


Sonic Tempest (Future Fic)

by Akcire92



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Future Fic, Kid Fic, Original Character-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2018-06-06 01:44:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 41,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6732949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akcire92/pseuds/Akcire92
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>20 years in the future, Sonic's children are continuing the fight against Eggman with their own crew of friends. But with Eggman's grip weakening with his age, is there a new evil waiting to rise and take Mobius for its own?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Brewing Storm: The Prologue to Sonic Tempest

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:  
> This fan-fic does not follow a specific cannon. I have taken a majority of the Stories from the games and TV show (Only) to create a narrative. There is NO Sonic comic book characters like Sally Acorn in this universe. It is mentioned that Sonic's children are named after his mother, Aleena and his Uncle Charles "Chuck", this is because I am not using the comic books for anything beyond how the date system works (EX: Day ##, Year ####). There will be a number of flashback chapters, so don't worry too much about the kids childhoods or past, I intend to cover them. The first Chapter is a Prologue beginning on the day the children are born and then skipping to seven years later as they are introduced to other adult characters for the first time. The story will then take place when Sonic's children are 15-years-old. I do my best to keep the character's true to their personalities and therefor, pairing are done not by my own personal preference for pairs. Shadow the Hedgehog will NOT be in a romantic relationship in this fic, because I think that is more true to his character. However, he does decide to raise a clone of himself as his son and has some major character development due to that and is a prominent character in the story.  
> Thanks for reading  
> Akcire

                                                   

.:Prologue:.

Planet Mobius: Day 65, Year 3240

For several years, Sonic completely ignored his desires to peruse romantic interests, but just a few years ago he finally gave in. Amy had grown more mature and had stopped being so intense about her feeling for Sonic. Sonic had almost thought that she had fallen out of love with him and that for once, he had been too slow. He had been around the world countless times, which was causing the recent travels become rather dull.

Thinking that maybe some joy would return to his travels by having someone to share them with, he nervously asked Amy to accompany him. Much to his surprise, she accepted happily, which lead to the development of a real romantic relationship. Marrying in secret with only their closest friend in attendance, Sonic and Amy only spent less than a year together before they mysteriously disappeared.

Sonic would occasionally appear to battle against Eggman but then disappear again. There was ever hardly time to question him about Amy, but when she was asked about, he would insist that she was fine. What their friends didn’t know was that the couple had gone into hiding, because Amy had become pregnant.

Expecting a child was difficult enough, but while the two was in hiding it meant they did not have access to most modern conveniences. They had no idea whether they were having a boy or a girl, only being able to just plan for either. One of Sonic’s old family friends was the only person that was aware of the pregnancy, because she had agreed to be their midwife.

This was the day Amy went into labor. The midwife, Bernadette coached Amy though her breathing and pushing. A healthy baby boy was delivered, but something unexpected happened.

“AHH!” Amy screamed, “Bernie, I thought you said it was over?!”

“It should be,” Bernie said, looking to see what was causing Amy pain, “Oh my!”

“What’s wrong?!” Sonic asked concerned.

“Here Sonic, hold the baby,” Bernie instructed, handing the baby boy to his father.

“Bernie what’s going on?!” Sonic demanded.

“She having another baby,” Bernie replied.

“What?!” Amy exclaimed. Sonic was speechless, he had never considered that Amy might have twins. Bernie returned to her coaching and within a few moments, another child emerged, crying and healthy.

“It’s a girl,” Bernie announced. Finally, the pain subsided and Amy was able to relax with her new daughter being placed in her arms.

“She’s so pale,” Amy noted, “is she okay?”

“She’s fine,” Bernie replied confidently, “she’s just an albino.”

“An albino? How do you know?” Sonic asked. Bernie reached down to stroke the child’s cheek,

“Open your eyes dear, show mommy and daddy.”

The baby groaned unhappily and attempted to move her head away, opening her eyes to reveal beautiful pink colored eyes.

“Oh, wow,” Amy mused.

“Some believe that the birth of an albino is a sign of good fortune,” Bernie commented.

It wasn’t long before the newborns began to cry; hungry for milk. Sonic handed Amy their son so that she could feed both of the babies. Once they were quite, happily being fed, Amy turned to Sonic,

“So I guess this means we get to use both names we picked out.”

“Yeah,” Sonic smiled, “Happy Birthday Charles and Aleena.”

Later, the babies had settled down, falling asleep on their mother’s chest.

“Sonic,” Amy called, “You haven’t gotten a chance to hold Aleena yet, do you want her now?”

“She’s asleep Amy,”

“I know, but I need a break from holding them both anyway,”

“Okay,” Sonic agreed, taking Aleena from Amy carefully. He cradled her gently in his arms, taking note of how very tiny she was and in fact, was the smaller of the twins. Aleena yawned, making a tiny noise and opening her eyes sheepishly. She looked up curiously at her father, never crying or making another noise. Sonic moved his hand closer to Aleena and she grabbed onto his finger, smiling softly.

“It’s alright, Daddy’s got you,” Sonic whispered. Aleena looked back up to Sonic briefly and then drifted back to sleep. Sonic teared up a little as the reality of what was happening finally began to sink in.

“Are you alright Sonic?” Amy asked.

“Yeah,” Sonic replied, “I don’t think I’ve ever fallen in love so fast in my life.”

“With Aleena?” Amy asked.

“With both of them,”

“I know what you mean,” Amy replied, cuddling Charles.        

 

Day 188, Year 3247

Sonic always had a habit of disappearing for a while after battling Eggman, but for the past few years, he has been staying gone longer. No one, not even Tails was sure why he was doing this but assumed it had something to do with Amy. Seven years ago, Sonic and Amy finally got together and married in secret, with only their closest friends in attendance. Then, suddenly, out of the blue, Sonic messaged Tails telling him that he planned to return for good.

Sonic and Amy came over the hill together, on their way to Tails' hanger. Each of them held a small child in their arms; Amy holding a boy with blue fur and Sonic holding a girl with white fur. They approached the hanger door and knocked. Tails opened the door and was shocked to see the children.

“Whoa, so that's why you disappear so often,” Tails mused.

“Sorry Tails, my priorities had changed,” Sonic replied.

“No kidding,” Tails says, letting the family into the hanger.

“It's good to see you again Tails,” Amy greets.

“It's good to see you again too Amy,” Tails returns.

“Oh, I go by Amelia now, it's my real name,” Amelia corrects.

“Oh,” Tails says scratching his cheek nervously. “Anyway, who is this?” Tails turns his direction to the little girl in Sonic's arms. She turns away shyly, hiding her face in Sonic's chest.

“Aleena, don't act like that,” Sonic spoke gently, “That's your Uncle Tails.”

“Nice to meet you Aleena,” Tails greeted, moving his head close to her. Aleena turns her head to peek at Tails. He smiles sweetly at her, easing her fears and she smiles back. Aleena inches her head towards Tails and touches her nose to his, a tiny spark jumps between their noses.

“Ouch!” Tails cried, “Static electricity.”

“Oh, actually Tails, Aleena kind of has Chaos powers over electricity,” Sonic admits.

“What?!” Tails replies in shock.

“And Charles has Chaos powers of sound,” Sonic continued, “That's why we call them Thunder and Lightning.”

“Thunder and Lightning?” Tails laughed, “how fitting.” He rubbed his nose to ease the pain of the shock.

“I'm sorry Uncle Tails,” Lightning spoke in a cute, tiny voice.

“Aww, that's okay,” Tails replied. Lightning reached out to Tails. Tails hesitated to reach for the child and Sonic took notice.

“It's okay Tails, she won't shock you,” Sonic assured. Tails reached out and took Lightning from Sonic. She wrapped her arms around Tails' neck and hugged him tightly.

“Oh, wow,” Tails mused, “She really warm.”

“Yeah, her body temperature is normally high,” Sonic explains.

“Oh, yeah that makes sense,” Tails responded, “because of the electricity in her body.”

“Man, we don't really know, we've been winging this whole parent thing for the past seven years,” Sonic jokes, but being strangely honest at the same time. Thunder is playing on the floor when he curls into a ball and rolls away.

“Charles Hedgehog,” Amelia calls, “you know better than to do that indoors!”

He uncurls, sitting on the floor he looks back to Amelia, “Sorry Mom.”

“Let me guess, like father like son?” Tails teased.

“Oh, you have no idea,” Amelia answered.

“Footsteps!” Thunder called.

“Huh?” Tails was confused. Suddenly the door opened and a female fox entered. She had black and white fur and her belly was large and round.

“Still carrying that baby Vixy?” Sonic asked. Vixy was Tails' wife, Sonic had already met her when he had returned to help defeat Eggman several years ago.

“Oh, hello Sonic,” Vixy greeted. She spots the two young hedgehogs, “oh, I didn't know you had children of your own.”

“That's okay,” Sonic replied, “it was a well-guarded secret.”

“Understandable,” Vixy returns, “Eggman wouldn't want another one of you.”

“Now there's two more,” Tails joined.

“Can either of them run as fast as you Sonic?” Vixy asks.

“Oh yeah,” Sonic replied, “both of them can.”

“Yeah, don't say B-A-T-H around Thunder,” Amelia adds. The group laughs in unison.

 

~Meanwhile at Dr. Eggman's lab~

Dr. Eggman sat in his chair staring at a computer screen looking confused.

“What was I supposed to be doing? I know there was something,” he spoke aloud, “Is it laundry day? No, that's not it.”

Orbot and Cubot come into the room,

“Sir,” Orbot spoke frantically, “Shadow the hedgehog-”

“That's it, I was supposed to retrieve Shadow!” Eggman interrupted, “I think I have calculated where he would have landed after falling from the Ark,” Eggman got up from his chair.

“No Sir, that happened years ago, Shadow is-”

“Don't back talk me, you stupid robot,” Eggman cut Orbot off again, “We have work to do, come on.”

Eggman took a small ship to the location where Shadow had fallen 12 years ago, and (of course) did not find him there.

“You see sir, Shadow is not here, he's-”

“Oh well, I have a backup plan,” Eggman continues to cut off Orbot. They went to one of Eggman's other laboratories. Eggman rummages through the veils on the shelf, “Here it is! I knew it was a good idea to save a sample of Shadow's DNA.”

“Sir?! Are you planning on making another Shadow?” Orbot asked.

“Yes!” Eggman answered pouring the liquid from the vial into a machine. A DNA sequence appeared on the monitor, reading 50%. “Only 50% of Shadow's DNA?!” Eggman exclaimed, “Oh Well, that should be plenty, I'll just simulate the other half to make the half I do have more stable.”  Eggman typed at the keyboard, the monitor began to show the other half of a DNA sequence, finally reaching 100%.

“There,” Eggman spoke satisfied. He typed again at the computer and a nearby pod filled with liquid and began to glow. The monitor then read 'Engaged' and 0%. “It may take a day for the clone to fully grow.”

 

Day 189, Year 3247

Lightning and Thunder played in the yard together, as Sonic watched over them. Suddenly two metallic orbs came down from the sky and snatched the children.

"Hey!" Sonic yelled, chasing after the orbs. He caught one of the orbs, smashing it on the ground. Thunder emerges from the debris and rushed to Sonic, crying. The second orb disappeared from sight.

"Aleena!" Sonic called.

Inside the metal orb, Lightning kicked and banged on the rounded walls. When she began to feel that a lot of time had passed, she became fearful.

"No! Let me out, I want my Daddy," Lightning began to cry, causing her electricity to build up and spark wildly. The electricity overloaded the orb, causing it to explode. Lightning emerged from the debris to find herself in an unfamiliar place. Frightened she began to cry again,

"Daddy!"

"Who are you?" An unfamiliar male voice asked. Lightning turned around to see Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat.

"Aleena," Lightning answered with her real name.

"Pretty name," Rouge complimented, trying to calm the child.

"Did you get separated from your father?" Shadow asked.

"The metal thing took me away," Lightning answered. Shadow gets down on one knee to examine the debris and looks at it confused,

"It must have short circuited." Shadow looked up and meets Lightning's gaze. Her big pink eyes were full of tears. Shadow felt pity for the child and lifted his hand to pet her head.

"I'll help you find your father," Shadow assures. Lightning quick moves to hug Shadow, surprising him. The hug was warm and comforting, Shadow had not felt anything like this in a very long time.

"Shadow, are you sure?" Rouge asks unsure. Shadow picks Lightning up as he stands,

"Can your conscious handle leaving her behind?"

"No," Rouge admits, "it's just....do you even know anything about kids?"

"Does it matter?" Shadow returns. 

~Dr. Eggman's laboratory~

It took a full 24 hours before the clone Eggman attempted to create had fully grown, however, it developed as a small child rather than an adult.

"Humm," Dr. Eggman sounds, "not exactly what I planned, but it should work fine."

The small clone tilts his head in confusion. He looked very similar to Shadow, the most notable difference being that he only had one red stripe from his forehead up to his longest quill, whereas Shadow has red stripes on all his quills.

"Now, Shadow," Dr. Eggman continued, handing a picture to the clone, "This is your target. His name is Sonic the hedgehog and you are to destroy him."

The clone looks closely at the picture and looks confused again,

"Why?" He asks in a tiny, soft voice.

"You are not to question me. You are to obey my orders, now go!" Eggman speaks harshly, He leaves the clone alone. The clone drops his head in sadness, confused about what to do. Thinking he had no choice but to listen to the doctor, he leaves in search of Sonic.

~back with Shadow and Rouge~

As the group walked along, Lightning followed closely behind Shadow. She could since in him a deep sadness, but also a kind heart. Rouge was curious how the child wasn't frightened by Shadow's cold demeanor.

"Maybe we should take a break," Rouge suggest. Shadow stopped and turned to look at Lightning. She didn't seem tired, but he wasn't sure and decided to take a break anyway.

"Alright, if that's what you think we should do," Shadow agrees. They sit down to rest and Lightning crawls onto Shadow's lap. Shadow was surprised when she cuddled up to him. Somehow, though, he felt needed and let her be. Rouge was shocked to see the interaction between the two.

"Aleena dear, aren't you afraid?" Rouge asked. Shadow scowled at Rouge, knowing what she meant. Lightning turned her head slightly to look at Rouge,

"No."

The answer shocked both Shadow and Rouge. The sentiment gave Shadow a strangely happy feeling. After a while, Lightning feel asleep.

"What is it about the little girl, Shadow?" Rouge asked.

"I don't know," Shadow replies. Lightning stirs slightly, rolling over into Shadow's chest and nuzzling into his white fur. He lifted his hand to Lightning's back and holds her gently. Rouge giggles,

"It's strange, yet refreshing to see you act like this."

"Act like what?" Shadow asks somewhat annoyed.

"Like a parent."

Shadow turns his head to hide his blushing face,

"Shut up, Rouge!"

A loud boom pierced the silence. Shadow and Rouge stood up to see what it was. It was Sonic, rushing by as quickly as possible. Another fast moving object came from nowhere and collided with him, knocking him back. The other object unrolled to reveal the small clone of Shadow. Everyone was shocked to see the tiny Shadow.

"What is that?" Rouge yelled. She woke the sleeping Lightning, who was in Shadow's arms.

"Huh?" Lightning stirred as she rubbed her eyes, "Daddy!"

"What?!" Shadow and Rouge gasped in unison. Lightning jumped from Shadow's arms and ran full speed to Sonic.

"Don't fight," she called, getting between her father and the clone.

"Out of my way, little girl," the clone demanded.

"No! You're being mean," Lightning returned. The clone looked confused,

"Mean?" He questioned quietly. He shook his head, forgetting about it for the moment. The clone rolled into a ball again and attacked Lightning, but she jumped over him. He unrolled and looked back at her confused.

"You stop that!" Lightning demanded. Shadow and Rouge came up behind Sonic, but he blocked them with his arm,

"Don't interrupt her."

The clone continued to try and attack Lightning, but she continued to dodge.

"Why are you doing this?" Lightning asked.

"Dr. Robotnik told me to," he answered.

"Is that all you know? Are you even happy doing what he tells you to?" Lightning asked. The clone froze,

"Happy?"

"You don't even know what happy is? Doesn't he teach you anything?" Lightning asked. The clone paused, looking at Lightning questionably.

"Who teaches you things?" The clone asked, his voice was softer and showed genuine interest.

"My mommy and daddy," Lightning answered. The clone looked confused again and dropped his head. Lightning approaches the clone and hugs him gently.

"Huh?" He reacts with shock. Her body was so warm, he had never felt anything like this before; use the coldness of the lab and the machines. Eventually, he decided to hug her back and began to cry, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, you were just confused," Lightning assures. The adults approach the children.

"What are we going to do with him?" Rouge asked curiously.

"I think Shadow should raise him," Sonic answered.

"What? Me?" Shadow replies.

"Sure he's obviously a clone of you. That practically makes him your son," Sonic argued.

"You're the original Shadow?" The clone asked, "Dr. Robotnik said you fell from space colony Ark and died."

"That happened twelve years ago," Rouge spoke, "we all assumed Shadow had died, but he was fine except for having amnesia. Is Dr. Eggman sick?"

The clone shrugs his shoulders.

"He's been having trouble remembering things lately," Sonic answered. Shadow was deep in thought when Lightning approached him.

"Are you going to be the little boy's daddy?" She asked innocently. Shadow looked into Lightning's eyes, remembering how he felt having her around.

"Yeah Shadow, are you?" Sonic asked.

"I... I don't know anything about being a parent," Shadow replies.

"Dude, I'm still figuring it out too and my kids are seven," Sonic assured, "look, kids don't come with instructions, you just have to do the best you can."

Shadow looks at the clone. The clone dropped his head again but continued to look up at Shadow. Shadow put his hand on the child's head,

"I'll take him," Shadow said kindly. The clone smiled and hugged Shadow. Shadow picked the clone up and held him.

"You should give him his own name," Lightning spoke.

"Huh?" Shadow sounded.

"My daddy gave me my name," Lightning explained. Sonic smiled proudly,

"That's a good idea Lightning." 

"Lightning?" Shadow asked confused.

"A rightfully earned nickname," Sonic answered, "you'll see soon enough, but for now, give the kid a name."

Shadow looks to his tiny clone and thinks for a moment.

"Dusk," Shadow offered. The clone smiled,

"I like that. Thank you, Shadow."

Shadow smiled back and patted Dusk's head,

"Dad will do."

Dusk smiled large and happy, hugging Shadow around the neck.

"Thanks, Dad."

 

Day 190, Year 3247

Tails and Vixy ran a DNA test on Dusk to see how similar he really was to Shadow. Sonic, Amelia, Shadow and Rouge watched Lightning, Thunder and Dusk play together while they waited.

"Wow, twins with chaos powers?" Rouge said surprised, "how did you handle that for seven years?"

"They're pretty good kids. Lightning is pretty sensitive to the emotions of others and she's pretty good at convincing Thunder of things too," Sonic answered.

“Sensitive to the emotions of other? That explains a lot,” Rouge commented.

"Hey guys," Tails called, "we're ready."

The adults picked up the children and went into another room with Tails and Vixy.

"It seems like Dusk is a somatic clone," Tails began.

"What does that mean?" Rouge asked.

"It means he was created using part of Shadow's DNA rather than all of it," Tails answered.

"50% to be accurate," Vixy added, "we asked Sonic and Thunder to provide DNA samples for comparison and as far as I can tell, there's no difference in how similar Dusk is to you than Thunder is to Sonic."

"Then he really is my son?" Shadow asked.

"Yes," Vixy answered, "he is, genetically speaking, your son."

"Vixy believes she should write him a birth certificate," Tails spoke.

"A birth certificate?" Shadow asked confused.

"This way he's legally yours and he has all the rights of anyone else," Vixy insisted.

"Well, alright, that seems reasonable," Shadow agreed.

"I just need to list someone as his mother," Vixy said.

"You can list me, Dr. Prower," Rouge offered.

"Rouge!" Shadow exclaimed, "are you sure?"

"I think Dusk is just what you need in your life Shadow," Rouge replied, "I might as well share responsibility for him. I'm not too keen on being a mother honestly, but a kid needs a mom. Besides, I think I'm growing fond of him." She pets Dusk on the head and bends down to him, "but you just call me Miss. Rouge, ok?"

"Ok, Miss. Rouge," Dusk replied.

 


	2. Roaring Thunder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introduction to Sonic's son, Thunder the Hedgehog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quotes at the beginning of each chapter will be commonplace. They may or may not have anything to do with the plot of the chapter. Also, I am not that great at drawing, but I will put pictures of the characters. If anyone wants to help me with character designs that would be great.

_“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”_

Day 203, Year 3255

Eggman’s large, metal, stronghold was active; lights were on even though it was the dead of night. Spotlights were swiveling from one side to the other. It was quiet, yet unusually dark outside with clouds obscuring the view of the stars. The moon occasionally peaked out and provided a small soft light before being swallowed again by more clouds. Hidden away in the safety of a small blind spot of the stronghold, overlooked by the doctor as well as his robot servant was a hedgehog.

His navy blue fur was almost like camouflage in the night; he is dressed in orange and white sneakers, gloves and a brown scarf. His emerald green eyes stood out among his features. He would surely be mistaken for Sonic the Hedgehog, but he is in fact, Sonic’s son, Thunder. Growing into a teenager, Thunder began to look uncannily like his father. Already afflicted by Alzheimer’s, Eggman was unable to make the distention between many of the children and at least one of their parents; often calling the boys by their fathers’ names and the girls by their mothers’ names.

Generally, the type to act impulsively and leave critical thinking to his sister, Thunder felt far from his comfort zone on this solo mission. He was hardly the stealthy type; it was much more Dusk’s forte, so why was he chosen for this mission instead dumbfounded Thunder.

Thunder had little time to contemplate why and how he ended up in his current situation. Speed and precision are crucial to this mission, and those were certain skills Thunder possessed. Leaning against the outer wall of the stronghold, Thunder closed his eyes and tapped his finger against the wall. Soundwaves traveled through the walls, giving Thunder a picture of the building’s layout. This ability was very similar to echolocation, except that Thunder’s chaos powers enable him to very precisely create and control sound waves to measure and map locations and distances with 100% detail.

Thunder now had a clear idea of the stronghold’s interior; as clear as if he had walked the halls countless times himself.

Sneaking in through the vent systems, Thunder made his way carefully to the central control room which was secured with a voice activated lock. Thunder pressed the activation button, prompting the machine to ask for a password.

“Blast it all, what did I make the password for this stupid machine again?” it was Thunder who spoke, but Eggman’s voice that escaped the young hedgehog’s mouth. This was more than an impression, and another chaos sound ability Thunder possessed was mimicry. Able to perfectly mimic the voices of other after only hearing them speak once, has been useful on more than one occasion.

The machine accepted the voice, changing its light from red to green and allowing Thunder access to the room. Inside was another machine which housed the power source for the entire stronghold; the white chaos emerald. Thunder approached the machine; a small glass window provided a view of the glowing jewel.

“Uh-oh,” Thunder spoke in his own voice, “I didn’t really think it through this far. What am I going to do now?”

Thunder contemplated his options, looking around the room to see if he could find anything useful. There was little else in the area but computers, which were of no use to Thunder without Dusk to help him hack their systems.

“I could use a soundwave to break the glass, but I’m sure that will just set off the alarm,” Thunder thought aloud to himself. “Maybe it won’t be a big deal if I can still get away without being seen. It’s not like Eggman will even remember he had the Emerald in the first place.”

Thunder walked to the nearest wall and began to tap on it to make sound waves. It wasn’t so much that he needed to know the layout of the stronghold again, he needed to know all the positions of any guard robots. Once a clear picture of their individual routes came into focus, Thunder began to calculate his own escape route mathematically, so he would not be detected. He was excellent at mathematical problem solving, but Thunder would never admit that. Thunder thought being smart at math would make him seem geeky, so he kept this talent hidden from most people.

“That’s a small window of time to work with, but I can make it,” Thunder stated. He went back to the machine that held the chaos emerald and quickly poked the glass to send in a soundwave that could cause it to break. Just as Thunder predicted, the alarm began to sound, and he quickly snatched the emerald. He ran as fast was he could move in the direction he planned as the guards began to converge on the control room.

Thunder barely escaped without being noticed, but his mission was successful, he retrieved the white chaos emerald. He returned to GUN headquarters to hand the emerald over to Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow was already waiting for him in the debriefing room,

“Good job Thunder, but you did cause the alarm to go off.”

“I know, sorry Sensei,” Thunder replied, “I wasn’t sure what else to do on my own.”

“You’re intelligent Thunder; you do not need to rely on Lightning and Dusk for problem-solving,” Shadow stated.

“Why should I have to slow down to think about things? I don’t have time,”

“But Lightning and Dusk do?”

“Uhh…”

“It says a lot that you can trust your teammates on such a level, Thunder,” Shadow complimented, “But just as I have trained your sister to fight without her electricity, I must train you to respond to situations when she is absent.”

“Alright,” Thunder replied unhappily.

“Each of you is going on a solo mission this week,” Shadow stated, “The three of you have been training under me for eight years, it’s time to see how much you’ve learned.”

“Are these tests?” Thunder asked nervously.

“Yes,” Shadow answered, “but regardless that you set off the alarm, you completed your mission, and you have proved to me that you can think critically on you own, so you pass. Go on home and rest Thunder, you’ve earned it.”

“Thank you, Shadow,”

“Just don’t get cocky,” Shadow warned as Thunder ran off.

“Who me? Never,” Thunder replied. He turned the corner and was out of sight. Shadow shook his head side to side,

“That kid is just like his father.”


	3. White Lightning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introduction to Sonic's daughter, Lightning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally stop being lazy and redrew her.

_“The difference between the almost-right word and the right word is really a large matter ‑ ‘tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning” Mark Twin_

Day 204, Year 3255

Thunder arrived home, walking through the door with tired relief. As he ventured past the living room on his way to his room, Thunder noticed his sister and his father sitting on the couch.

“You’re up, sis,” Thunder said, not stopping to anything else. Lightning didn’t answer; the earbuds tucked away in her ears drowned out all other noise than her music.

“Lightning, did you hear your brother?” Sonic asked, “Lightning?!” Sonic moved a little closer to Lightning and gently pulled one of her earbuds out, “Aleena, did you hear your brother?”

“No, I didn’t, sorry Dad,” Lightning replied.

“He said you’re up; I guess that means Shadow is ready to send you on your solo mission,”

“Without a doubt,” Lightning replied, turning off her music and placing the player on the table, “See you later Dad.”

“Bye Lightning, be careful,”

“I will,”

Sonic walked through the house, to Thunder’s bedroom, finding him asleep in his bed.

“What’s the matter, son? Shadow kill you out?”

“I hate solo missions,” Thunder replied in a groggy voice, not opening his eyes to look at his father. Sonic chuckled and shook his head, smiling softly.

Lightning made her way through the hallways of GUN, as she approached the debriefing room, the white chaos emerald shot out of the room; attracted to Lightning’s natural magnetic field, it began to circle her body.

“This again?” Lightning sighed. Shadow emerged from the room, not surprised by the reaction of the chaos emerald,

“Lightning, you have excellent timing, but it seems your brother has forgotten to inform you that he recovered a chaos emerald.”

“It’s alright sensei; it’s not like my magnetic field repels the emeralds,”

“I suppose that’s true,”

Lightning approached Shadow, pushing the chaos emerald closer to him with her hand. A small spark of electricity could be seen jumping from the emerald to Lightning’s hand as it left the electric field. Shadow took the emerald and let Lightning enter the room, shutting the door behind them.

“Dusk has already left with Rouge for his mission,” Shadow began, “I monitored Thunder on his mission, Omega will be accompanying you to Angel Island for your mission. He is only there to monitor you; Omega will not aid you unless there is an emergency.”

“I understand that,” Lightning replied.

“Good,” Shadow returned “The Echidnas have found an old library on their Island, they believe that it may hold an ancient book that describes the real power of the chaos emeralds. This is likely the same book that was mentioned in the research that Rouge managed to recover from Eggman’s headquarters several weeks ago. You are to search the library for this book, but because we do not wish to risk damaging the item, you need to let Omega secure it and safely make a digital copy. Once Omega has finished making the digital copy of the book, return the original to Knuckles.”

“I don’t suppose the ancient Knuckles Clan was familiar with the dewy decimal system?” Lightning commented.

“I don’t suppose you or your brother could stop channeling your father’s attitude anytime soon?” Shadow countered.

“Touché,”    

Lightning left for Angel Island with Omega accompanying her. Once on the Island, Knuckles showed them to the entrance of the library. It was hidden rather well in the thick and overgrown part of the jungle; it wasn’t surprising to find that it had been discovered by Rosso and Carmine, two of Knuckles’ children. Rosso and Carmine are very notorious for getting into trouble.

“Be careful in there Lightning, it’s hard to say how much longer this pile of junk will hold out,” Knuckles instructed.

“Well, if the point of the mission is to be cautious, then Shadow picked the right hedgehog for the job,” Lightning replied. She ventured carefully into the library, quickly finding her source of light depleting. Using her electricity to make minute sparks along her fur, Lightning was able to create a small glow around her body. She usually would make larger sparks for a brighter light, but Lightning was nervous of accidently catching something on fire.

As rows of bookshelves came into view, Lightning began to look for the book she was sent after.

“These books are in a language that I’m not familiar with, how am I supposed to know which is the one I’m looking for?”

As Lighting moved through the rows of books, she found a pedestal with a large book placed on top. The cover was made of gold and had an etching of the chaos emeralds surrounding the master emerald.

“Oh, that’s probably it,” Lightning said, reaching out to pick up the book. “Wait, I hope this thing isn’t bobby trapped.” Lightning was a little hesitant to pick up the book. She is an excellent strategist, but Lightning is also bad for overthinking simple situations and giving herself unnecessary anxieties. She gradually convinced herself to pick up the book, easing it carefully away from its pedestal. Lightning’s rubber lined gloves were made specifically to prevent her from shocking someone on accident. Once the book was completely removed, Lightning paused to listen for any clicks or moving mechanisms. There was only silence and Lightning breathed a sigh of relief,

“Phew.”

_CLICK_

“Shoot!” Lightning quickly turned around and ran back to the entrance. The building began to shake, toppling over several bookcases as Lightning passed by them. If she were not much faster than average Mobians, she might have been crushed. As she neared the door, so could see that it was closing.

“Lightning?!” Knuckles was calling.

Lightning ran a little bit faster, throwing herself onto the ground and sliding under the door just before it completely closed.

“Oh, thank goodness, if you had gotten trapped in there, Sonic would have killed me,” Knuckles commented.

“Gee, thanks for being so worried about me, Knuckles,” Lightning replied.

“No problem,”

Lightning just rolled her eyes as she stood up, a sudden jolt of pain took her off guard.

“Ouch!” Lightning cried, finding that her arm had been cut several inches below her shoulder. It likely happened when she slid under the door. Her blood quickly made its way to the surface of her skin and trickled down her arm. “Here Omega, make the copy,” Lightning said placing the book into a slot that Omega had opened up in his chest.

“Scanning book, please stand by,” Omega responded. Lightning reached into her pocket and pulled out a handkerchief to press against her wound.

“Here, I’ll help you,” Knuckles offered, he took the handkerchief from Lightning and tied it around her arm.

“Thank you, Knuckles,”

“Scan complete,” Omega spoke, opening the compartment again.

“I’ll take that,” Knuckles said, taking the book from Omega.

“Mission successful, return to base for debriefing,” Omega announced.

“Alright,” Lightning agreed, “Goodbye Knuckles, keep that book in a safe place.”

 “Goodbye Lightning, good luck deciphering the text from the book,”

“Thank you,”


	4. The Dark of Twilight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An introduction to Shadow's son Dusk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm looking for someone who would be willing to bounce ideas for this story around with me and brainstorm. Thanks

_ _

_“Change, like sunshine, can be a friend or foe, a blessing or a curse, a dawn or a dusk,” William Arthur Ward_

 

Early morning hours of Day 205, Year 3255

In the distance another stronghold belonging to Eggman could be seen; active, with spotlights and more guard robots than the one Thunder, had infiltrated. Hidden deep in the treetops were Rouge and Dusk. Rouge sat on an upper branch, her legs crossed at her ankles. She propped herself up with her right hand while casually laying the other on her lap. Rouge’s outfit was very similar to the black suit with the pink heart that she was known for, but she had grown more modest and added a short-sleeved top to the attire.

Dusk stood on a lower branch, but his eye-level was still very close to Rouge’s.

“Alright Dusk, this facility is very heavily guarded, so it’s best that you rely on your stealth skills here,” said Rouge. “Eggman must have forgotten he had the chaos emerald that Shadow sent Thunder to retrieve, but he is still doing well to remember that he has some information he doesn’t want us to have.”

“So this is a no evidence mission?”

“That’s right,” Rouge answered, “leave no trace of yourself, not even a glimpse of your shadow on the surveillance cameras and do not attempt to crash the computer system. Remove the files we need and get out. We do not want Eggman to know you were even here.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Dusk replied jumping down from the tree.

“Be careful sugar,” Rouge called.

“I will Miss Rouge, thank you,”

Dusk approached the tree line quietly, not wanting to alert any of the guards. He carefully peeked through the vegetation to get a look at the guard robots’ patterns. “This won’t be as easy without Thunder to make me a full map.” Dusk sighed,

“I guess I’ll just have to go with the flow on this one.”

Dusk continued to watch the movements of the robots as they formed a tight grid around the stronghold. There was only a brief opportunity to sneak by them as they turned. With such small windows of time, the team regularly relied on Thunder to signal them when to go, but Dusk would have to do it on his own. While not as fast at calculating complicated math equations as Thunder, Dusk was by no means unable to be just as accurate. 

Dusk raced past the guard robots as they turned and faced opposite directions. Running up the side of the wall and entering through a high window. Dusk’s shoes were more advanced than Shadow’s, even though Shadow had made an upgrade to similar hover shoes in recent years. Dusk’s shoes also made it easier for him to cling to walls and ceilings without having to use his speed. A few years of training with Rouge has also prepared Dusk to walk upside down effectively for a limited period.

Mounted just below the window was a surveillance camera that slowly moved back and forth. Dusk reached down and took a small round device from the tongue of his shoe. Pressing the device between his fingers, he activated it and laid it down on the camera. This device was invented by James “Nitro” Prower, the son of Tails. It is designed to discreetly attach itself to the rim of a camera lens, without moving into the field of the camera’s vision, to record what the camera sees. Once the device has recorded the path of the camera, it then attaches itself to a wire and loops the footage for 15 minutes before it detaches and self-destructs quietly.

There were guard robots below, but they were unable to look upwards, only straight ahead. Dusk stayed quiet as he waited for the device, called the Loop Pin, to do its job. Once the Loop Pin was in place, Dusk was able to sneak by the guard robots with ease and make his way to the control room. There he found the master computer and hacking was one of Dusk’s specialties.

Dusk was a very curious child and often took things apart to see how they worked. Instead of scolding Dusk for breaking things, Shadow noticed that once Dusk learned how something worked, he put it back together in better working order. So, Shadow encouraged Dusk’s curiosity and tinkering, which ended up developing one of Dusk’s greats passions; engineering. Skilled with computers, Dusk can write software and build machines he has a blueprint for but isn’t much for inventing unless he works together with Thunder and Nitro. Similar to drawing maps, Thunder is also incredibly accurate at making blueprints and Dusk usually only trusts the ones drawn by Thunder.

Dusk was quick at typing and was almost ready to put a portable memory drive into the computer when he heard a noise. He quickly ran up the wall and onto the ceiling where he crouched down just above the entrance to the control room. A guard robot opened the door and looked in the room, but it was unable to see Dusk on the ceiling, above its head. The robot turned and left, satisfied that there was nothing to be concerned about.

Dusk went back to the computer and copied the files he had been sent after to the memory drive. He left the facility just as stealthily as he had entered and returned to Rouge.

“Did you get it?” Rouge asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” Dusk replied, handing the memory drive to Rouge.

“Good job Dusk, let’s go back to headquarters,”

Back at headquarters, Dusk and Rouge found Shadow in his office where he sorted through paperwork.

“Isn’t it awfully early to be doing paperwork, Shadow?” Rouge teased.

“I wasn’t doing paperwork, I was waiting for the two of you to get back,” Shadow replied.

“Did Lightning make it back already?” Dusk asked.

“She was probably home in time for dinner,” Shadow answered, “Why don’t you just go on to bed Dusk, we’ll talk in the morning.”

“Okay, goodnight Dad, Goodnight Miss Rouge,” Dusk said before leaving.

“Goodnight sugar, sweet dreams,” Rouge replied. They waited until Dusk was gone before they began to talk with each other.

“Did he do well?” Shadow asked.

“A little slower than usual, but I think he was extra cautious since he was without his teammates,” Rouge answered.

“That’s understandable, Thunder’s maps can make stealth missions much easier,”

“How did the twins do?”  

“They did well enough that I feel comfortable moving forward with the plan,”

“I’m sure they’ll be thrilled,” Rouge smiled.

“I hope so,” Shadow replied.

“When will it be official?”

“I have to finish their evaluations before I can do anything. The whole process should take a day or two, long enough for them to rest for bit anyway,”

“It’s great that you worry about them getting enough rest, but don’t you think you could actually tell them that you’re proud of them this time?”

“They know that,” Shadow protested.

“But they would probably still like for you to _tell_ them,”

Shadow glared at Rouge for a moment, then shifted his gaze slightly downward to contemplate what she said. After a couple of minutes of silence, Shadow looked back up at Rouge. She was smiling slyly just for the fact that she got Shadow to consider the thought of actually telling the kids that he was proud. Shadow rolled his eyes,

“Fine, I will tell them.”           

 


	5. Storm Surge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids have completed their missions, now Shadow and the rest of Team Dark have something to tell them.

                                        

_“There is peace even in the storm,” Vincent van Gogh_

Day 207, Year 3255

Shadow called Thunder, Lightning, and Dusk to come in for a meeting at GUN Headquarters. He met with them in the briefing room along with Rouge and Omega. There were tables and chairs in the large room, but none of the six occupants were sitting. This wasn’t unusual for any of them, especially if the kids thought Shadow was about to assign them a mission. However, they were unable to ignore the fact that all members of Team Dark were in attendance, which was not the norm for assignments.

“All three of you? Are we in trouble?” Thunder asked.

“None of you are in trouble,” Shadow assured.

“It’s quite the contrary,” Rouge added, “We have good news to share with the three of you.”

“You were each recently sent on a solo mission,” Shadow began, “These missions were to test the individual progress of your training. While there is certainly still room for each of you to improve, from here on that kind of growth can only be obtained through experience.”

“What are you saying Sensei?” Lightning asked.

“Lightning, you have become an excellent tactician with incredible foresight, but you still tend to undervalue yourself and your own safety. Thunder, you’re a gifted Cartographer and Mathematician, but you can be reckless at times. Dusk, your talents in the technological field is unmatched by anyone else here at GUN, but you must also learn to rely on yourself so that your teammates can too.”

“Yes Sir,” Dusk replied unhappily.

“Don’t be upset sugar,” Rouge spoke, “Shadow isn’t finished yet.”

“As I said, these are not things I can teach the three of you through training, you must learn them on your own through experience,” Shadow continued, “As far as what I _have_ taught the three of you though training, I am beyond satisfied with your progress. Despite your individual needs for growth in a personal sense, the three of you always perform best as a team. It is for that reason; I feel the three of you are ready to move forward.”

“What do you mean, move forward?” Thunder asked.

“As of today, the three of you are no longer trainees. I have commissioned you all as official agents of GUN and members of the special operations division under the name Team Storm,”

“We’re real agents now?!” Thunder exclaimed.

“Something wrong Thunder?” Shadow asked.

“That’s a lot of responsibility,”

“It is,” Shadow agreed, “I have already told the commanders that I do not want the abilities of Team Storm to be abused and that it is unacceptable for you three to be sent out on countless missions. They agreed with me based on your skills, so I am the only agent at GUN who is authorized to send Team Storm on a mission. At no time are any of you three to agree to a mission without my approval and do not allow any other agent tell you that you must listen because they outrank you. Truth be told, Team Dark is the only GUN team that officially outranks you at this point. It does not matter how much longer any of them have been here than you three, _you now outrank them_ , do I make myself clear?”

“Yes Sir,” the kids replied in unison.

“The three of you are to act as equals and take the lead of who is best suited to take charge of the current situation. I am considered Team Storm’s leader, but I will not be joining you on your missions unless the mission requires two teams, in which case Team Dark will accompany you,” Shadow explained.

“Does this mean no more training?” Thunder asked.

“Of course not,” Shadow answered, “You will still adhere to your regular training regimen so that you all stay sharp. Even the three of us still train regularly.”

Omega stepped up and opened a compartment in his chest which held three watch-like communicators. Each communicator was color coated to its owner and displayed a symbol for each of them. Thunder’s communicator was black and navy blue with a sound-wave symbol. Lightning’s communicator was black and white with a lightning bolt symbol. Dusk’s communicator was black and red with a crescent moon symbol. Each of them reached out and took their communicator and placed it on their wrist.

“Keep these communicators with you at all times,” Shadow instructed, “They are designed for each of you specifically and resistant to Lightning’s electricity.”

“Because I’m always the reason we can’t have nice things?” Lightning responded sarcastically.

“This time you’re the reason we _do_ have nice things,” Thunder returned.

“Team Storm’s first official mission is to decipher the book that Lightning retrieved from her solo mission. GUN’s cryptologists are stumped, so hopefully the combined efforts of the three of you will make a difference,” Shadow told the group. Rouge nudged Shadow,

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Shadow sighed,

“And, I’m proud of you all.”

                                                     


	6. Yellow Wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> an introduction to James "Nitro" Prower, the son of Miles "Tails" Prower

                                                                 

 

_“The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” Christopher McCandless_

 

Day 209, Year 3255

 

Several days had passed since Team Storm had been assigned their mission to decipher the ancient Knuckles Clan book about the true power of the chaos emeralds. Lightning was having no luck finding a language that matched the book’s text, so the team met to brainstorm ideas for a new approach.

“I can’t find anything that even comes close to this gibberish, what did you two come up with?” Lightning asked she was mentally drained and frustrated.

“It could just be in some sort of code,” Thunder replied, “Dusk and I could write an algorithm to try to crack it, then maybe it will be in a language you can translate, sis.”

“Before we do that, we should ask the Echidnas if they know anything about it,” Dusk suggests, “Even a small clue would be helpful at this point.”

“Dusk is right, we will have to take a trip to Angel Island in a few days,” Lightning agreed.

“Why don’t we just go tomorrow?” Dusk asked.

“Tomorrow is Nitro’s birthday,” Thunder answered.

“Oh, that’s right,” Dusk replied.

“Are you two still here?” Shadow asked, coming into the room.

“There isn’t much more that we can do right now besides ask the Echidnas what they know,” Lightning replied.

“That’s fine, you and Thunder go home and rest for a couple of days then you can go see the Echidnas,” Shadow insisted.

“Thanks, Sensei,” Thunder was grateful to go home.

“I know you all are eager to prove you are excellent agents, but you have already done that countless times. Nothing has changed, I trained you as if you were already agents. Rest is important, it will do you no good to tire yourself out while you are not on a mission,”

“But isn’t deciphering the text our mission?” Lightning asked.

“That does not mean I expect you to exhaust yourself with it,” Shadow responded.

“I’m not tired,” Lightning debated.

“Your eyes tell a different story,” Shadow returned. Lightning reached up to rub her right eye, realizing that maybe she had actually tried her eyes out from reading so many books while researching.

“Okay, maybe I am a little tired,” Lightning agreed, “mentally more than physically.”

“Go home,” Shadow insisted again.

The twins returned home, opening the door to their home to find their anxiously waiting mother. Amelia wasted no time before throwing her arms around her children, excited to see them.

“My babies are home!” Amelia exclaimed, “I’m so proud of the two of you!”

“I guess Dad told you about Team Storm?” Lightning asked.

“Mom, we aren’t babies,” Thunder protested.

“Oh, I’m sorry kids,” Amelia apologized, “I know you wanted to tell me yourselves, but I was getting worried about you. I may have forcefully broken your father’s silence.”

“A mother bear has nothing on you, Amy,” Sonic replied, coming into the living room to join his family.

“I’m sorry dear,” Amelia returned. She dropped her head, seeming to be disappointed in herself. Sonic approached her, wrapping his right arm around the back of Amelia’s shoulder to pull her close.

“It’s alright,” Sonic assured, kissing his wife on the cheek, “It’s your job to worry about them.”

“I know, but I honestly don’t mean to be overbearing,” Amelia admitted. Sonic chuckled, petting Amy on the head in a comforting manner. After she smiled in response to Sonic’s non-verbal assurance, he turned his attention to the twins,

“Fully instated GUN agents, congratulations Thunder and Lightning, we’re proud of you.”

“Thanks, Dad,” the twins replied in unison.

“We were hoping to get a chance to celebrate with the two of you before now,” Amelia stated, “I hope you don’t mind if we put it on hold until after Nitro’s party tomorrow.”

“It’s fine Mom,” Thunder agreed.

“Yeah, I think we just need a nap,” Lightning added.

“Well, if you can manage to stay awake for a few more hours and eat dinner first, then the two of you can get a full night’s sleep,” Amelia offered, “The Prowers won’t be over until three o’clock tomorrow, so we’ll let you sleep in until about 2 o’clock if you want.”

“You’re the best mom ever,” Thunder replied gratefully. 

 

Day 210, Year 3255

Thunder slept until in until two o’clock just as his mother had offered, but Lightning had barely slept past the usual time she woke up each day. She was quickly met with jokes from her father about being an early bird and insistent pleas from her mother to return to bed. Lightning actually would have liked to sleep in for a while longer, but she was never able to fall back to sleep after waking up. Unable to convince their daughter to go back to sleep, Sonic instead got Lightning to agree to relax and listening to her music, which was her favorite pastime.

Thunder dragged out of bed as if he didn’t sleep a wink the previous night. Lightning knew that wasn’t the case because she could hear him snoring from her room. Adorning a fresh pair of gloves and socks along with his signature blue and orange shoes, and bandanna, Thunder entered the living room to join his sister.

“Good morning,” Lightning greeted, “Did you sleep well last night because it sure sounded like you did.”

“Shut up, Lightning,” Thunder replied, rubbing his eyes.

Suddenly the front door swung up with an all too familiar voice sounding out,

“Thunder! Lightning!”

It was Nitro, who was turning 8-years-old today. He has grown as close to Thunder and Lightning as Tails has Sonic. The sibling-like relationship between Tails and Sonic remained strong over the years, with their children referring to the other as their “uncle”.

Nitro quickly rushed to the twins and pulled them into a group hug, happy to see them.

“Hey buddy, happy birthday,” Thunder greeted.

“I can’t wait to show you guys what I got!” Nitro was overjoyed and excited. He was usually somewhat of a hyper child, which earned him the nickname Nitro. Following true in his father’s footsteps, it was Thunder who bestowed the name on the young fox. 

Tails and his wife, Vixy followed close behind their son into the Hedgehog home.

“Sorry, we’re a little earlier than we said we’d be,” Tails apologized, “Nitro couldn’t wait to see you guys.”

“That’s alright Uncle Tails,” Lightning replied, “We’re happy to see you all.”

“Thank you Lightning,” Tails returned, “I hear you two were made into full GUN agents, congratulations.”

“Thanks,” the twins said in unison.

“Dad, can I show them?” Nitro gleefully interrupted.

“Sure son, go ahead,” Tails permitted.

“I’m still not sure about this Miles,” Vixy protested.

“It’s fine Vixy,” Tails debated, “He’s old enough to learn.”

Sonic and Amelia joined the group in the living room.

“Hey guys, how’s it going,” Sonic greeted.

“Hi Sonic,” Tails replied, “sorry we’re so early.

“No problem, you guys are always welcome here,” Sonic insisted. Tails smiled softly in response just before Nitro came back into the room carrying a small Extreme Gear Board.

“Look!” Nitro exclaimed, “Dad’s going to teach me how to ride it!”

“That’s great Nitro,” Lightning replied, “remember you have to take little steps when you learn something new.”

“Yeah, okay,” Nitro responded. Lightning knew all too well that Nitro was easily excited and at times impatient. He usually calmed down enough to try again after being frustrated when someone reminded Nitro that somethings take the time to learn.

The families visited with one another for a few hours before sitting down to have dinner together with a birthday cake to follow. Thunder and Lightning talk vaguely about their attempts to decipher the Echidnas’ book. It did little good to not mention it, as Knuckles wasn’t very good at keeping secrets anyway.

“The book sounds very interesting,” Tails commented, “If Shadow will allow you to, feel free to call on me anytime. I’d be glad to help you guys any way I can.”

“Thanks, Uncle Tails, we appreciate it,” Lightning said sincerely.

“Dad!” Nitro exclaimed, “can I help too?”

“We’ll see James, it depends on if they need help at all,”

“Okay,” Nitro replied, “Will you teach me how to ride the board later?”

“Well, it might be too late after dinner, but if your mother says it’s okay we can start first thing in the morning,”

“Mom, please?!” Nitro threw his arms around his mother’s waist.

“Oh, alright,” Vixy agreed, “as long as you promise to be careful.”

“I double promise Mom,” Nitro happily bounced up and down with excitement.

“Oh wow, a double promise,” Vixy smiled, amused with Nitro’s enthusiasm.

“It’s a good thing you’re an M.D. honey,” Tails joked.

“Miles, please,” Vixy replied exasperated.       

 


	7. Short-fuse Warning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lightning and Thunder visit the Echidna Family to ask about the mysterious book. This is the introduction of Knuckles' six children; Crimson, Scarlet, Rosso, Carmine, Ruby and Terra Cotta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last introduction chapter, the next one is a flasback chapter and then we can start getting into some real stories from now on without a 2 page limit.

 

“When you’re young, thunderstorms seem scary. Like the sky is angry with you. But, now that I’m older, something about its roar soothes me; it’s comforting to know that even nature needs to scream sometimes.” – unknown.

 

Day 211, Year 3255

 

Thunder and Lightning ventured through the forest of Angel Island on their way to the Shrine of the Master Emerald to see the Echidnas. Upon reaching the base of the shire, they were already greeted by one Knuckles’ sons.

“Hey! How’s it going Hedgehogs!”

“Crimson!” Thunder called, greeting the Echidna with a high-five. Crimson was the oldest of the Echidna kids at 16 and loved to hunt for treasure and explore new places beyond the island. He is expected to take his father’s place as guardian of the Master Emerald someday, but Crimson isn’t fond of the idea. Angel Island makes Crimson feel trapped at times, even though it is his home. Despite not caring much for the island itself, Crimson loves his family very much and is incredibly loyal. Knuckles doesn’t have any problems with his son’s adventurous nature nor does he protest when he goes off exploring with Thunder occasionally.

“To what do we owe the pleasure of your company today?” Crimson teased, alluding to the fact that the twins have not visited in a while.

“Come on, Crimson,” Thunder defended, “It’s not our fault we’ve had a lot of missions lately.”

“Sure,” Crimson continued teasing, “GUN Agents in training under the great Shadow the Hedgehog.”

“Well…” Thunder started.

“Well, what?”

“We aren’t in training anymore,” Lightning answered.

“Oh, I see,” Crimson crossed his arms, “Here on a mission, not to visit at all.”

“That’s not completely true,” Thunder argued.

“Not _completely_ true?” Crimson scoffed.

“We are here to ask your dad a question, but we are technically on a day off, so we are also here to visit as well,” Lightning explained.

“HAHA!” Crimson laughed, “Killing two birds with one stone are we?”

“Oh hush, Crimson!” Lightning scolded. It was typical of Crimson to poke fun at Thunder and Lightning’s specialized training. For Lightning, that mean her tactician skills; her habits of being time efficient and resource conscious.

“I’m only messing with you L,” Crimson replied, “My dad is up at the shine.”

The Echidna kids were like cousins to Thunder and Lightning in much the same way Nitro is, but Knuckles was less open about being called “uncle” than Tails. Crimson and Thunder have always had a close friendship and were each other’s best friend. Crimson’s younger sister and the second oldest of the kids, Scarlet, was very close with Lightning in the same regard. Although it was more accurate to say Lightning’s best friend is Dusk, Scarlet is the only other girl Lightning has a close friendship.

Crimson led the twins up the stairs of the shrine and was meet by the rest of the Echidna family at the top. Knuckles stood by the Master Emerald as he usually does, nearby was his wife, Shade, holding the youngest of the children, Terra Cotta. The one-year-old was the only one of the six Echidna kids to have orange colored fur like her mother. As always, the baby girl held tightly in her arms, her favorite toy, a plush Chao doll. Scarlet was only 14, but she loved to sew and crochet and made the doll for her baby sister when she was first born. It was Scarlet’s first attempt at making something rather than her usual clothing, but Terra loved the doll better than any other toy she had.

“Look Terra!” another young girl called out. It was Ruby, who was just 6-years-old and the fifth of the Echidna kids. She was loud and sassy, prompting the usual joke of how the second youngest of Knuckles’ girls was more of a teenager than his actual teenaged girl. Ruby often kept her quills back in a pony-tail. Most of the kids had horizontal light orange stripes like their mother, but Ruby was the only one with full red-colored quills highlighting her orange quills.

“HEEHEEHEE!” Terra giggled as her sister made funny faces at her. Shade smiled, watching her two youngest daughters play. Knuckles also occasionally peeked over at them and smiled, even though he tried to hide it slightly.

The two middle kids, Rosso and Carmine, sat nearby. Rosso looked the most like Knuckles and was the older of the two boys at 12-years-old. Rosso was the quite one of his siblings, but he and Carmine usually got into the most trouble. Carmine is very close with his brother, Rosso and the two are usually always seen together. Although Carmine looked rather different than the rest of the Echidnas, there was no doubt the 10-year-old was Knuckles’ son. Carmine was good-hearted, but he was also very gullible, just like his father. It was never usually the intention of either brother to get in trouble when they explored, but trouble always found them anyway. Rosso was a little harder to get a conversation out of than Carmine, but still, no one quite talked your ear off like Ruby.     

The twins approached Knuckles, who quickly acknowledged them.

“Back already?” Knuckles asked.

“Hi Knuckles,” Lightning greeted, “Have you looked at the book?”

“I have,” Knuckles replied, “but even Shade and I are unfamiliar with the text inside the book.”

“It seems as though the ancient Knuckles clan had written it in code so that the Nocturnus Clan nor anyone else would be able to read it,” Shade added.

“So if Knuckles can’t read it, no one can?” Thunder asked.

“I don’t know about that,” Knuckles commented, “Lightning is better than anyone I know with languages, I think she can figure it out.”

“I’m not sure Knuckles, it’s already stumped me,” Lightning admitted.

“Sometimes a break and a new perspective can make all the difference, dear,” Shade encouraged.

“I’ll keep working on it the best I can, in the meantime I guess Thunder and Dusk are going to try their idea,” Lightning commented.

“Hey, no problem sis, one algorithm coming up,” Thunder replied confidently, “It might take us a few days, though.”

“If we find out anything we will let you know,” Shade assured. “In fact… Rosso! Carmine!”

“Yes, ma’am?” Rosso and Carmine replied.

“You two are always finding things somehow, why don’t you try going back to the library and seeing if you can find something that will help the hedgehogs decipher the book?”

“We always find things on accident though Mom,” Carmine replied.

“Do you think we could find something on purpose?” Rosso added.

“I sure hope so,” Shade returned, “You two are growing up, and you need to be responsible for yourselves.”

“Yes Ma’am,” the boys replied.

“I hope you two are staying for a while,” Shade turned her attention back to the twins, “I think Scarlet needs a friend to talk to right now, Lightning.”

“Cool, you go talk to Scarlet, and I’ll go hang out with Crimson for a while,” Thunder said to Lightning, running off before she had a chance to say anything. Lightning shook her head; it wasn’t like she was going to say no or anything.

Lightning went off to find Scarlet in her room, she seemed distraught and stressed.

“What’s the matter with you?” Lightning asked.

“Lightning!” Scarlet yelled, excited to see her friend. “Oh, I just can’t seem to sketch any designs I’m happy with lately, I don’t know what to do.”

“Maybe you just need a break,” Lightning advised.

“Ugh, you sound like my mother,” Scarlet replied.

“Well, sometimes mothers know best,”

“Yeah, okay,” Scarlet agreed, “maybe taking my mind off of it for a while could do me some good.”

“You know, there are a lot of pretty flowers on Angel Island, have you ever thought about dresses inspired by them?”

“Oh my, I’ve never really done dresses before, Lightning,” Scarlet said nervously.

“Well, you never made a plush before you made one for Terra,”

“Yeah, but it didn’t really turn out all that great,”

“I think Terra disagrees,” Lightning smiled.

“Haha, she’s only one,” Scarlet laughed.

“So? She loves it, and that’s all that matters,”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Scarlet had an epiphany, “I shouldn’t give up because I think I won’t be good at it.”

“Practice makes perfect Scarlet,” Lightning encouraged, “Everyone starts somewhere, you should have seen me back when Shadow first started training me to use my powers.”

“What, you mean you didn’t just know how they worked instinctually?” Scarlet seemed genuinely surprised.

“Haha,” Lightning laughed, “of course not.” 

 


	8. Storm Clouds: A Flashback Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids powers are growing, so Shadow offers to train them to control their abilities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long chapter.

     

 

“Every day is a new beginning. Problems and mistakes from yesterday are just memories of lessons learned.” -unknown

 

Day 200 Year 3247

Shadow had Dusk under his care for over a week, and although the sudden plunge into parenthood was initially nerve-wracking, Shadow quickly grew fond of Dusk. GUN headquarters wasn’t too happy about the tiny clone at first, but Shadow was insistent on keeping the child, so they relented. Shadow had even demanded that Dusk be referred to as his son rather than a clone. The gesture made Dusk feel wanted, which was new for him.

Sonic was never one to hold grudges, so there was little issue with him becoming more friendly with Shadow since Lightning and Thunder had become friends with Dusk. Shadow was not so quick to change his attitude towards Sonic, but he was fond of Lightning and tolerant for Dusk’s sake. Eventually, Shadow did become friends with Sonic. The two were standing by as they watched over their children playing in the backyard of Sonic’s home.

“Sonic, I know that I may not be in much of a position to say this, but perhaps you should consider allowing me to train Thunder and Lightning,” Shadow spoke.

“Train them?” Sonic questioned, “You mean to use their chaos powers?”

“Well of course to use their abilities, but they could also benefit from being trained to fight on their own,” Shadow replied, “They have already been targeted once, and it will certainly not be the last.”

“I knew that was a risk when I brought them out of hiding,” Sonic explained, “but I had to bring them to Tails because their abilities are advancing. I have, to be honest about this for their sake, I have no idea how to teach them myself. Would you really do that for them?”

“I might be the only person who could teach them,”

Sonic nodded in agreement, “I’ll talk to Amy about it, but I think that would be the best thing for them. Will you watch them from a little bit?”

“Sure,” Shadow replied uneasily. Sonic picked up on the uncertainty in Shadow’s voice and chuckled,

“You’ll be fine.”

 Sonic walked back into the house leaving Shadow with children. He hadn’t paid much attention to the kids playing before, but now that he was the only one watching them he kept a closer eye on them. To Shadow’s surprise, the children had stopped running around and had sat down on the ground. Lightning and Thunder each had a white dandelion and had given one to Dusk, explaining to him what it was. They then blew the seeds away from their dandelions. Dusk reacted with confusion, glancing from side to side at each twin beside of him. Dusk was seemingly upset, prompting Thunder and Lightning to comfort him by putting their hand on his shoulder.

“It’s okay Dusk, those are seeds, they will land on the ground and make new flowers,” Lightning explained.

“How do you know?” Dusk asked.

“Mom told us,” Thunder replied.

Dusk smiled and blew the seeds off his dandelion. The three of them started to play and run around again, laughing and smiling. Shadow smiled too, something about watching them warmed his heart.

 

Inside the house, Sonic looked for Amelia. She was cooking lunch when Sonic walked in,

“Amelia?”

“Yes, dear?” Amelia replied.

“I need to ask you something,”

“What is it?”

“Shadow has offered to teach the kids how to use their powers,”

“What?! You want me to let Shadow teach my babies how to fight?!”

“Amy, they need to be able to control their abilities. Thunder is having a hard time sleeping because he’s picking up on sounds, Lightning is accidently shocking things. You know we can’t teach them ourselves,” Sonic argued.

“I know,” Amelia sighed, “I just wish we didn’t have to teach them to fight.”

“I’m sorry Amy. I always knew this was inevitable, from the moment you told me you were pregnant, I knew they would have to learn how to fight. They are my children; they are always going to have targets on their backs as long as Eggman is alive. Shadow is the only person who could teach them to use their powers.”

Amy was silent for a few moments; she almost looked like she was ready to cry. Sonic hugged her to help her feel more at ease.

“Yeah, ok,” Amelia agreed, “You’re right, they have to be able to defend themselves.”

“I know it’s a difficult thing to deal with, but it’s the best thing we can do for them,” Sonic assured. Amelia nodded in agreement,

“I wish they would stop growing up so fast.”

“I know,” Sonic replied, kissing Amy on the cheek, “It will be okay.”

Sonic went back outside to find Shadow smiling softly. “What’d they do?”

“Huh?!” Shadow was taken by surprise; he had lost himself watching the children. “Oh, they showed Dusk a dandelion.”

“They’re just like their mother,” Sonic laughed.

“Did you talk to her?” Shadow asked.

“Yeah, she’s okay with it,”

“Really?”

“Well, no, but she’s going to let you teach them anyway,”

“Can you bring them over tomorrow?”

“Sure thing,” Sonic replied, “You want to keep them overnight?”

“Overnight?!” Shadow exclaimed, “I can barely handle Dusk by myself, you think I can handle all three right now?”

“I don’t see why not,” Sonic returned, “If you’re going to train them you are going to have to get to know them, Shadow.”

Shadow crossed his arms, knowing Sonic was right. He was just intimidated by the idea of keeping all three of them for the time being; he was still getting used to being a parent. Shadow lost himself in thought again as he contemplated wheatear he could manage all three kids or not. “You know, I wasn’t expecting twins when Amy got pregnant,” Sonic spoke.

“Huh? What does that have to do with anything?” Shadow asked.

“We went into hiding as soon as we found out, but I was only expecting one baby,” Sonic explained, “We didn’t have access to ultrasounds or anything, so we were completely surprised when the twins were born. If I can handle two newborns all of the sudden, then I’m sure you shouldn’t have much trouble with three seven-year-olds.”

Shadow sighed, “Alright.”

 

Day 201, Year 3247

Sonic brought the twins over to GUN Headquarters, where Shadow was waiting for them to arrive. Sonic gave Thunder and Lightning each a backpack with enough essentials for an overnight stay. The two young hedgehogs were excited about staying with Shadow and Dusk, having never had a friend that they could stay with before. Sonic had already explained to the twins that Shadow wanted to help them learn to control their powers, which they were also excited about.

“I’ll be back tomorrow for them,” Sonic assured, “If you ever need someone to watch Dusk for you, just let me and Amy know, we’d be glad to have him.”

“Thanks,” Shadow replied, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Sonic said good-bye to his children before leaving them in Shadow’s care. Shadow took the kids outside again to let them play, while he waited for Rouge and Omega to join him. Lightning was already curious about learning to use her powers, and instead of running off to play with the boys, she approached Shadow.

“Shadow?” Lightning called.

“What is it Lightning?” Shadow replied.

“Daddy said you were going to teach us to use our powers,”

“I am, but I am waiting for the rest of my team to come help. You can go play until they arrive,”

“Why do we have to wait for them?” Lightning asked, confused. Shadow was beginning to realize that Lightning had a profound interest in learning her abilities.

“Are you anxious to learn, Lightning?”

“Yeah,” 

“Why is that?”

“I’m not very good at controlling my electricity, sometimes I hurt people by accident,” Lightning admitted.

“Don’t worry; we will find a way to fix that,” Shadow assured, “I can use chaos lightning too, so I should be able to teach you. I think Rouge will be able to help your brother get a handle on his abilities.”

“How can Miss. Rouge help Thunder?”

“She’s a bat,” Shadow replied, “Bats can use an ability call echolocation, which is very similar to Thunder’s ability.”

“His hearing is so good that sometimes little noises wake him up,” Lightning stated.

“I know, your father told me,”

Lightning dropped her head in sadness, making Shadow wonder if he had said something to upset her. He reached down to pat Lightning on the head to encourage her, “Just go play, for now, there will be plenty time for training later.”

“Okay,” Lightning smiled, running off to join the boys in their game of tag. Before long, Rouge and Omega had arrived.

“Alright Shadow, we’re here,” Rouge spoke, “Now, what exactly did you want us to do?”

“I need you to help Thunder understand his sound abilities,” Shadow replied bluntly.

“You think it’s similar enough to echolocation that I can teach him?” Rouge asked skeptically.

“At least enough that you can help him understand it better,” Shadow returned, “Don’t worry about offensive or defensive applications, for now, we can figure it out once he has proficient control.”

“Alright, I should be able to do that much,” Rouge agreed.

“Sonic made an excellent point the other day,” Shadow admitted, “If I’m going to teach them, I need to know them better. Before I can properly train them to defend themselves without the use of their chaos powers, I have to figure out what kinds of skills they have natural gifts for, or at least what skills they will adapt well to learning. Omega, can you keep a file on each of them, including Dusk, so I can better gauge their abilities?”

“Affirmative,” Omega replied.

“So after convincing GUN to let you keep Dusk, now you’re going to try talking them into letting you teach these kids?” Rouge asked, teasing Shadow a bit.

“Dusk is a child, not a pet,” Shadow replied harshly, “As of today all three of them are my trainees, whether GUN likes it or not.”

“Because that argument worked the last time, huh?”

“Shadow taking on trainees has many strategical advantages that GUN cannot overlook,” Omega defended, “Having a top agent like Shadow teach a specialized team from a young age would be highly beneficial to the organization.”

“I’m not doing it for GUN, I’m doing it for the children’s sake. The dangers posed by them not knowing how to control their powers properly are immense,”

“Agreed,” Omega replied, “However, making them official GUN trainees would benefit all parties.”

“I suppose so,” Shadow yielded. “Rouge, go ahead and take Thunder. Work with him how you see fit, but no thievery.”

“Me?! Teach Sonic the Hedgehog’s son to steal? Never!” Rouge replied sarcastically.

“Rouge,” Shadow said insistently.

“Oh, alright,” Rouge rolled her eyes, “Come Thunder, let’s see what we can do about those sound abilities.”

“Okay,” Thunder replied, running to Rouge. She had plans of taking him to a nearby cave area, where she could better gauge his abilities.

“Omega, you work with Dusk,”

“Affirmative,”

Lightning and Dusk approached Shadow and Omega.

“What are we going to do, Dad?” Dusk asked.

“You’ve been with me long enough that I’ve noticed some of your abilities Dusk, in particular, your enhanced strength. Omega will be attempting to measure how much you are capable of handling today,” Shadow replied.

“What about me? Lightning asked.

“I want to test your abilities today too, Lightning. Once I have a good idea of your limitations, we can come up with a regimen for you,”

“Okay,”

“Dusk, go with Omega,” Shadow turned his attention back to Dusk, “He has the test ready for you. Start with both your inhibitor rings on, then take one off, then both.”

“Okay,” Dusk replied.

“The testing area is this direction,” Omega said, pointing the way. Dusk looked back up at Shadow with a concerned expression.

“It’s okay; I’ll be right here if you need me,” Shadow assured. Dusk smiled and nodded, then followed after Omega.

 

Rouge and Thunder

Rouge brought Thunder to a large cave-like area with open space and terrain that consisted mostly of rock. Thunder seemed awestruck at his surroundings and looked around the area.

“Curious type, aren’t you?” Rouge asked.

“I just like to explore new places,” Thunder replied.

“Ah, like father like son, I see,”

“People say that to me a lot since we’ve been here,”

“I would say so, you are very much like your father,” Rouge commented.

“Dad says I’m just like mom, though,” Thunder explained.

“Oh really, why’s that?”

“I dunno,”

“Well, I’m sure if you have any of your mother’s qualities then I will see them eventually,” Rouge was trying to get the focus back on evaluating Thunder’s abilities, “Let’s go ahead and begin.”

“What do I do?” Thunder asked.

“First, tell me what you know about your powers,”

“Well, if I make a noise it will make a wave which helps me see things far away or inside of something else,” Thunder began, “I can hear really good, sometimes I wake up at night because I hear things too good.”

“Hopefully with some training that won’t be the case,” Rouge tried to comfort Thunder, “What do you hear now?”

Thunder closed his eyes, “wings flapping, water dripping in the cave, wind blowing the tree branches.”

“You hear the wind blowing through the tree branches from all the way up here?”

Thunder opened his eyes, “Yeah.”

Rouge suddenly noticed that Thunder hadn’t complained about her voice being disruptive. How was it possible for him to hear the tree branches from so far away and not hear her voice louder than what it was? “Thunder, am I too loud when I speak?”

“No,” Thunder replied, “You sound normal to me.”

“Oh my goodness,” Rouge said, rubbing her face in concern, “How on Mobius does Shadow expect me to figure out these chaos sound powers?” She looked at Thunder again, and he was looking up at her with concern.

“You aren’t sad are you, Miss Rouge?” Thunder asked, “Please don’t be sad, I’m sorry my powers are confusing.”

“Oh,” Rouge sighed, “I’m starting to see some of your mother in you now.”

Thunder smiled softly, “You’re not sad?”

“No, sugar,” Rouge replied, “I’m fine.” Thunder approached Rouge and hugged her around her waist. Rouge patted him on the head and smiled softly in turn.

“Are you hungry?” Thunder asked, “Your belly is growling.”

“Yeah, starting to see a lot of your mother in you,” Rouge laughed, “I suppose I am a little hungry.”

“You want to eat first?”

“No, I can wait for a little while,” Rouge insisted, “See if you can use a sound wave to see inside the cave.”

“Okay,” Thunder replied, letting go of Rouge. He closed his eyes again, the same sounds flooded his ears, but Thunder could only see darkness. He tapped his foot on the ground, making a sound wave that traveled through the floor and along the walls of the cave, making the interior clear to him. Thunder could see that something was sticking out of the ground in the middle of the cave. Thunder opened his eyes, “I see something stuck in the ground.”

“Good, that’s a marker I place there earlier,” Rouge replied, “I have several like that throughout the cave, how many can you see?”

Thunder closed his eyes again, tapping his foot on the ground again to make another sound wave.

“Three,” he replied, opening his eyes.

“Really?!” Rouge was surprised, “I’m impressed, there is only five total.”

“So, that’s good?”

“That’s very good,” Rouge replied, “Thunder, can you only see and hear extra well when your eyes are closed?”

“I can only see things with the sound waves when my eyes are closed, but I can still hear good when my eyes are open,” Thunder replied, “But, I think it’s easier to hear stuff that’s far away or really quiet when my eyes are closed.”

“So your hearing becomes more attuned when you close your eyes,” Rouge commented, “That’s reasonable, the other senses will accommodate the loss of another. This is probably the reason why you have difficulty with it at night when you’re trying to sleep.”

“What do I do about it?”

“I can get you some magnificent ear plugs for now, and maybe you will learn to control it better with some practice and not have to use them.”

“Okay…” Thunder said unhappily.

“What’s wrong?”

“The ones mom got me didn’t work,”

“I can get you some that should work better,”

 

Omega and Dusk

Omega guided Dusk to an area inside the facility with a medium sized machine.

“What’s this?” Dusk asked.

“This machine can be calibrated to high levels of resistance, allowing for accurate measurement of physical strength,” Omega replied.

“Boy, you talk funny,” Dusk commented. There was a short, awkward moment of silence, as Omega did not know how to respond.

“Let us begin,” Omega finally spoke. He walked over to the machine and typed on its control panel. “Calibrating to 50 pounds.”

“What do I do?” Dusk asked.

“Lift the panel on the front of the machine,”

“This?” Dusk put his hand under the handle which was rectangle shaped with rounded edges.

“Affirmative,”

“Okay,” Dusk replied, pushing the handle up with ease.

“Impressive,” Omega complimented, “Release the panel.”

Dusk did as he was told and let go of the handle, letting the machine reset.

“Calibrating to 200 pounds,” Omega continued. Dusk lifted the handle again with just as much ease as before. “Did you experience more resistance?”

“Not really,” Dusk replied.

“Calibrating to 2,000 pounds,”

Dusk again lifted the handle once more, “That one was a little bit harder.”

This continued until Omega found that Dusk could lift 3,600 pounds with his inhibitor rings on; 100 times Dusk’s weight. Without one inhibitor ring Dusk could 300 times his weight, and without either, he could lift 500 times his weight.

“Test completed,” Omega said, turning off the machine.

 

Shadow and Lightning

“Aright Lightning, first I’m going to measure your electricity and see how much voltage you’re producing,” Shadow explained.

“Okay,” Lightning replied meekly. Shadow opened a box he had nearby and pulled out a meter with needles attached to the end by wires. “Oh no!” Lightning recoiled, “Are you going to poke me too?”

“What are you talking about?” Shadow asked, sounding concerned.

“Mrs. Prower stuck me in the with one of those things when I was exhausted and couldn’t shock her,”

“Oh,” Shadow relaxed, “Sounds like she just drew some blood so she could take a look at your DNA. She just wants to see if you’re in good health.”

“I know, Daddy told me that too, but I don’t want to be poked again,”

“Don’t worry. It’s not going to hurt,” Shadow assured, “All you have to do is hold the metal part.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it,” Shadow confirmed, “But you need to take your gloves off so that we get an accurate reading.”

“Okay,” Lightning breathed a sigh of relief and took off her gloves. Shadow handed her the needles,

“One in each hand, okay.”

“Okay,” As soon as lightning touched the needles, the meter’s display jumped to a reading of 2,000 volts.

“Wow, 2,000 volts already?!” Shadow was amazed.

“That’s a big number,”

“It sounds like a lot, but 2,000 volts is mostly harmless, it just makes a static shock is all.”

“I give people little shocks a lot,”

“I’m sure you do,” Shadow smiled lightly, “Now, try to make as much electricity as you can, but stop if you feel uncomfortable or any pain.”

Lightning focused her energy, causing visible sparks to jump around her fur. The meter maxed out at 10,000 volts before Lightning stopped.

“Ouch!” she cried.

“It’s okay, you did well,” Shadow complimented.

“That’s a huge number,” Lightning remarked.

“10,000 volts is a lot,” Shadow returned, “but as long as you aren’t exceeding 50 amps, it isn’t deadly. It will hurt more than a static shock, though.”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” Lightning pouted.

“If you can learn to fluctuate your electricity, then there shouldn’t be any problems,” Shadow encouraged, “What do you normally do when you build up too much electricity?”

“Daddy usually has me run it off, so I get tired,” Lightning replied, “It’s the only thing that works.”

“Then regular training should help keep it under control then; you’ll use up plenty of energy,”

“What about when I’m not training?”

“Hopefully the training will help you learn to control it properly on your own,” Shadow replied.

“Okay,” Lightning smiled.

“Put your gloves back on and let’s see what we can get accomplished today,”

  

After several hours of training, all the kids were beginning to tire out, so the adults brought them inside to rest and eat something. Thunder and Dusk seemed content with their progress, but Lightning was visibly upset.

“Shadow did you say something mean to that baby?” Rouge asked.

“No, she’s just upset because she’s struggling to control her powers,” Shadow replied.

“Well then talk to her about it, try encouraging her,”

“I don’t know what to say to her,” Shadow admitted.

“Shadow you have Dusk to look after now, you need to learn how to talk to the children,”

“I’m trying, Rouge,”

“You have to make a connection with them if you’re going to teach them,” Rouge advised. Shadow didn’t reply; he just looked away angrily; he was upset about struggling to communicate with the kids too.

“Miss Rouge?” Thunder called, approaching Rouge and grabbing her wrist.

“What is it Thunder?”

“Did you eat something too? You were hungry earlier,”

“Yes, I ate,” Rouge replied, patting Thunder on the head, “Don’t worry about me sugar, go relax for a while.”

“Okay,” Thunder hugged Rouge quickly before running off to look for his backpack. He found it, pulling a sketch book and a pencil from it and began to draw. Shadow was curious and walked over to inspect what Thunder was drawing. He was surprised to find that in the small amount of time it took him to walk to Thunder, the child had already mostly completed his drawing.

“What are you drawing Thunder?” Shadow asked.

“It’s the cave Miss Rouge took me to earlier,” Thunder replied. Shadow noted that the drawing was magnificent and that Thunder had even placed the flags in the drawing correctly. Shadow had seen the cave earlier that day to approve of Rouge’s testing method.

“Do you have other drawings?”

“Yeah,” Thunder picked his things up off the floor where he was currently drawing to move to the table to show Shadow previous pictures. As Thunder flipped through the pages, Shadow was impressed that he was able to recognize many of the places that Thunder had sketched. Not only that but Thunder was able to confirm that by telling Shadow about each place with accurate detail. “I remember things I see with my powers a lot better than most things I see with my eyes. I like to draw them; mommy likes my drawings too.”

Thunder’s drawings were practically maps and were so detailed. Shadow could see some practical applications using this skill. A small banging noise distracted Shadow, as he found Dusk trying to reach the toaster of all things.

“What are you doing, Dusk?”

“I want to know how it works,” Dusk replied.

“It’s just a toaster son, you put bread in it and push the lever down. That turns the heating element on and sets a timer when it’s done it will pop up on its own and turn off.”

“But how does it do all that?”

Shadow realized that Dusk’s question was more on a technical level, which Shadow had no answers.

“I’m not sure,” Shadow replied honestly, “We can find out later, though.”

Shadow then turned his attention to Lightning, she had been quiet for a while now. She was sitting on the floor in the corner, reading a book. She was still visibly upset, so Shadow approached her and picked her up.

“What are you doing?” Shadow asked as he moved her to the couch where she'd be more comfortable.

“Reading a book,” Lighting replied. Shadow noticed the title, “The Secret Garden” he remembered this book, Maria had read it as part of her schooling on the ARK.

“Isn’t that book a bit hard for someone your age?”

“I don’t know, I can read it fine,” Lightning replied, “Daddy didn’t seem to think it would be too hard when he let me get it from the library.”

“I’m not sure I expect much knowledge about literature from your father Lightning, he seems much too impatient for reading.”

“Daddy reads books all the time,” Lightning revealed, “Besides, the library belongs to Daddy.”

“What?” Shadow questioned.

“He said it was his Mommy’s before she died. Now Daddy takes care of it for her,”

“I’m sorry Lightning, I didn’t know that,”

“That’s okay, Daddy doesn’t talk about it much,” Lightning replied, “Her name was Aleena too, Daddy gave me her name.”

Shadow was caught off guard by a lot of these facts, but he was noticing that Lightning was still sad and that was more important right now.

“Lightning, please don’t be upset with yourself, you did your best toady, and that’s all I’ll ask of you,”

“But I didn’t do it right,” Lightning frowned, “I couldn’t make the electric smaller.”

“That’s okay, I wasn’t expecting you to get it right the very first try,” Shadow encouraged, “It’s going to take a lot of practice.”

“Okay, Lightning smiled.

“Your brother likes to draw, what do you like to do in your spare time, besides reading?”

“I like music too,”

“I’m not sure how I can use that to train you, anything else?”

“Uncle Tails says I’m good at the grown-up games for my age,” Lightning offers.

“What kind of games are you talking about?”

“I like this one,” Lightning replied, reaching into her bag and pulling out a box. She opened it to reveal a chessboard and pieces.

“Chess?!” Shadow was surprised, “Alright, I know how to play that one, let’s see how good you are.”

Lightning was very good at the game, impressing Shadow with how well she adapted to different situations on the board. The match was already taking longer than he ever thought it would, considering her age, but they were interrupted before they could finish the game.

“Shadow? Have you seen what your son has gotten into?” Rouge called. Shadow came back to the kitchen to find that Dusk had not given up on the toaster, in fact, he had gotten ahold of it and had taken it apart.

“Dusk!” Shadow called, “What did you do?”

“I know how it works now, Dad,” Dusk proclaimed and proceeded to put the toaster together again and placed it back on the counter. Shadow was curious, so he plugged it back in and put a piece of bread in one of the slots. The toaster did indeed work like new.

“Shadow, did your kid just reverse-engineer a toaster?” Rouge asked, surprised.

“It seems as though he has,” Shadow replied. Each one of the children had surprised him in some way today. At this point, Shadow was accepting of their unique skills. Omega walks into the room, looking for Rouge.

“Rouge, you are needed in Mission Briefing immediately,” Omega spoke.

“Oh, alright,” Rouge replied, leaving.

“Omega, I need you to add a note to each of the kids’ files,” Shadow ordered.

“Affirmative,”

“Lightning is showing skills in tactics; Thunder is showing skills in cartography and Dusk is showing skills in engineering. I want these skills kept in mind for training purposes.”

“Recorded,”

 


	9. Overrunning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins are spending their last day off with their mother, meanwhile Rouge is hoping to bond with Dusk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long, I decided to rewrite this chapter's ending

“Everybody wants happiness, nobody wants pain but you can’t have a rainbow without a little rain,” -unknown

 

Day 212 Year 3255

It was early in the morning, quiet and peaceful as most of the Hedgehog family was still asleep. The early bird, as usual, was Amy, who was preparing breakfast. She had plans to spend the day with her children before they returned to GUN Headquarters the next day but knew Thunder did not like to be woken up at early hours. It was somewhat understandable; he always had trouble sleeping when he was younger due to his incredible sensitivity to sound waves. Since developing more control over his abilities under Shadow’s and Rouge’s mentorship, Thunder was able to sleep comfortably without earplugs for the last five years. With little surprise to Amy, much like his father, Thunder rather enjoyed being able to sleep.

Lightning was different, she always managed to sleep comfortably, yet was usually never able to go back to sleep if she woke up after more than three hours. Before she began training with Shadow, Lightning often had too much energy and was also unable to sleep at night. Either way, both twins have had difficulties with their sleep patterns. As teenagers, Thunder and Lightning are much better about their schedules than when they were young children.

Amy was initially skeptical about letting the kids become GUN trainees all those years ago. However, the results of their training were far more beneficial to them than she ever could have imagined. Beyond just being able to defend themselves, their quality of life has improved from learning to master their abilities. For the most part, Amy has been somewhat negative about the affiliation with GUN over the years. After sitting down to think more critically about the situation, she realized that perhaps she was worrying too much. She was proud of Thunder and Lightning, and now that they are official GUN agents, Amy decided that she would be more positive. After all, the Twins have a strong sense of right and wrong and a powerful desire to protect others; just like Sonic.

Everything was ready and on the table and Amy breathed a sigh of relief that she had finished. She then proceeded to Lightning’s room and opened the door,

“Aleena?”

Lightning was laying on her side, facing away from Amy, but lifted her head to look over her shoulder.

“Yeah, Mom?” Lightning asked, sounding sleepy.

“I have breakfast ready,”

Lightning yawned as she sat up, “Okay.”

Amy moved to the next room at wake her son, “Charles?”

Thunder was laying diagonally across his bed with his blanket sloppily covering him and his arms above his head. His mouth was slightly opening, and he was lightly snoring. Amy smiled, thinking about how much he took after his father. “Charles?!” Amy called again. No response. “Thunder!”

“Huh?!” Thunder sat up quickly, rubbing his eyes, “Mom? What time is it?”

“It just after 10, dear,”

“Ugh, it’s too early,”

“I have a big breakfast ready for you,”

“Okay, maybe it’s not that early,”

Amy laughed, “Never too early for food, huh?”

 

Back at GUN Headquarters, Rouge walked down the hallway on her way to Shadow’s office. She wasn’t much of a morning person and was still a little groggy. Rouge had already drunk about half of the cup of coffee she was holding but was feeling no effects from it just yet. Rouge arrived at Shadow’s office to find him going through paperwork. The level of organization was no surprise to Rouge; Shadow was always particular about keeping his workspace neat. She always assumed that it was a habit that followed him from living on Space Colony Ark, it seemed obviously the kind of place where organization and cleanliness was a necessity. Rouge could never manage the nerve to ask Shadow whether it was the case, as to this day the Ark is a touchy subject for him to confront.

However, there were three things Rouge is accustomed to seeing in the office that was noticeably missing. 

“Where are the kids?” Rouge asked.

“They’ll be back tomorrow,” Shadow answered.

“So none of them are here?”

“Dusk is here,”

“He isn’t with the twins?”

“No, they are spending time with their mother today,” Shadow explained.

“Oh,” Rouge muttered. _Mother,_ that word has always made her feel uncomfortable, but over the last eight years, she had grown close to Dusk. Initially, she didn’t want Dusk to call her his mother because she didn’t want anyone to think her and Shadow had been having some secret relationship or be confused about what exactly her relationship with him was. Additionally, Shadow didn’t like for people to refer to Dusk as his clone and preferred for Dusk to be treated as his son, just as any other child would be treated. Explaining Dusk as a clone to others would clear up the confusion, but Rouge could see how doing so would possibly make Dusk feel less like Shadow’s son the more this had to be explained. She remembered what it was like the first time Shadow brought Dusk to GUN and had to explain him, the look on Dusk’s face when he was called a clone was heartbreaking.

Looking back on the last eight years, Rouge suddenly realized that Shadow was a surprisingly good parent. He’s made a lot of correct calls in raising him, starting with treating Dusk like his own person and not expecting Dusk to be exactly like himself. Sometimes Rouge wondered if maybe Dusk really was just like Shadow and that’s how Shadow knew what to do all this time. Shadow had struggled with the reason he was created for a long time; maybe he wished he had been treated like a real person rather than an experiment during his life. The idea that perhaps Dusk has become the person Shadow would have been if Maria had not died, recently dawned on Rouge. It didn’t make her see Dusk in a new light, but rather it made her see _Shadow_ in a new light. She always knew Shadow was more caring than he leads on to be and since he took Dusk in, his compassion was more noticeable. However, Rouge couldn’t help but suspect that Shadow was purposely distancing himself from others. Dusk is very close with Lightning and having watched the two grow up together; Rouge often wondered if their friendship was akin to the friendship Shadow had with Maria. If so, then she could see how Maria’s loss was so devastating for Shadow.

“Are you alright?” Shadow asked, snapping Rouge out of her deep thought.

“Huh?” Rouge replied, “Oh, I’m sorry, I was just thinking.”

Shadow didn’t say anything, but he kept his gaze on Rouge, suggesting he was open to let her voice what was on her mind but was not going to pry. Rouge took notice, Shadow did this often and was one of those small moments where she could catch him being sympathetic. “I just thought that maybe…”

“Maybe what?” Shadow asked.

“Maybe I should spend some time with Dusk?”

There was a brief moment of silence and Rouge was suddenly anxious that Shadow would say no to her.

“Well, then go ask him,” Shadow suggested.

“Really?!”

“He’s fifteen, he can think for himself,”

“Thank you, Shadow,” Rouge replied as she left the office. Shadow smiled softly; he had been wondering how long it would take her to ask.

Rouge approached Dusk’s room, the door was slightly ajar, and the only sound was the hum of a computer. She lightly knocked on the door,

“Dusk?”

“Yes, Ma’am?” Dusk answered. Rouge pushed the door open, finding Dusk sitting at this desk, typing on his keyboard in front of his duel monitored computer. A black screen filled with jumbled green text on both screens and was moving quickly up the screen. Dusk briefly stopped typing to turn around in his seat to look at Rouge.

“What on Mobius are you doing?” Rouge asked.

“Oh, Thunder and I created an algorithm that we hope will be able to help decipher the text in the book Lightning retrieved on her solo mission,” Dusk replied. “We finished it last night, and I’ve been running it all morning against the digital copy Omega made. We have outdone ourselves this time; it’s running such a detailed diagnostic that it hasn’t even managed to sort through even half of the text, yet.”

“Is it going to take it a long time to get through the entire book?”

“If it keeps up its current pace, it may take it all day,”

“You weren’t just going to sit here all day and watch it, were you?”

“I guess so,” Dusk shrugged, “Unless Dad needed me to do something.”

“Well, what if you just go out with me today instead?” Rouge asked sweetly.

“You want to train today Miss Rouge?” Dusk asked, used to training with Rouge often.

“No dear, just a regular day out together,” Rouge clarified.

“Oh, you mean….” Dusk stopped in mid-sentence. He hadn’t had “just a regular day” in a very long time. This was an unusual request from Rouge, but spending time with her was something Dusk always wanted. He always saw Rouge as a mother-figure, even if she didn’t always seem interested in being referred to as such. Dusk looked back his computer, appearing conflicted to leave since deciphering the book was technically his mission.

“Shadow said it was up to you if you wanted to spend some time with me today,”

Dusk quickly turned his head back around to look at Rouge; his amber colored eyes filled with emotion which suddenly disappeared when he blinked. He paused briefly to think of his answer,

“I’d like that.”

 

Later in the day, Thunder and Lightning were still out with their mother, who took them shopping for new clothes and other useful items they may need. When they returned home, they sat down to spend the rest of the day with both parents. Usually typical of children in some cases, Lightning was a daddy’s girl, and Thunder was a mama’s boy. Lightning immediately hugged Sonic after coming through the door.

“Hi, sweetie, did you have a nice time with your mom today?” Sonic greeted, returning his daughter’s hug and then petting her on the head.

“Yeah, that was fun,” Lightning replied.

“Hi dad,” Thunder spoke.

“Hi son, did you manage a shopping day alright?”

“I guess so,” Thunder returned, “at least Mom let me get some sketch books while we were out.”

“I love your drawings dear,” Amy responded.

Thunder blushed, “They aren’t that great.”

“Don’t be silly,” Amy smiled, “They’re so detailed.”

Thunder was well known for making very accurate and detailed maps, which wasn’t such a big deal to him. However, Thunder also enjoyed drawing landscapes and flowers, which are the drawings Amy is referring too. Thunder was a little more embarrassed about those designs, even though he knew his father also liked flowers and was where he got it from. It was a different aspect he had also inherited from his father‑ shyness. Sharing his personal drawings with others was something Thunder was incredibly shy about, and usually, his family was the only ones to see those pieces.  

“There isn’t any reason for you to be embarrassed about your art Thunder,” Sonic encouraged. Thunder returned a small smile to Sonic but didn’t verbally respond. “But, speaking of books…” Sonic handed a little book to Lightning with a black cover and light-blue ribbon, tied in a bow, on the front. She untied the ribbon and opened the book to find the pages were blank.

“A journal!” Lightning exclaimed, “Thank you, Daddy.”

“I know you like to write just as much as you like to read,” Sonic commented.

Lightning loved books and music, often trying her hand at short stories, poetry, and even songwriting as a hobby. Like her brother, she was often embarrassed about sharing them with others outside of the family, but Dusk is the only other person who knows about her interest in writing. Dusk has insistently asked to see some of Lightning’s writings, but she has so far not yielded to his request.

“We’re so proud of you two,” Amy interjected, breaking the awkward silence.

“We really are,” Sonic confirmed, “You’ve both worked and trained super hard over the years.”

“You’ll be two of the greatest agents GUN has,” Amy continued, “Or maybe you already are.”

“We aren’t trainees anymore, but we’re still new at being agents Mom,” Thunder replied.

“Oh, I know, but you’re both just very intelligent and Shadow’s trained you very well,”

“Thanks, Mom,” Lightning thanked.

“Your welcome, sweetie,” Amy replied, “Now, how about I make something special for dinner?”

 

After spending time with each other throughout the day, Rouge and Dusk sat down to talk about the day.

“Now, was spending the day with me so bad?” Rouge asked sarcastically.

“No,” Dusk chuckled lightly and smiled at Rouge, “of course not.”

Rouge smiled back, “You’ve grown up so much. Sometimes you’re just like your father, and sometimes you’re nothing like him.”

“Huh?” Dusk’s smile turned to a look of confusion, wondering where the statement had come from.

“I’m sorry, it’s rude to assume you’d be just like him, even if you are…” Rouge cut herself off, almost saying something she knew she’d regret.

“A clone?” Dusk finished the sentence with a sad tone in his voice. Rouge quickly lifted her hand to Dusk’s cheek to comfort him.

“Sugar, you are so much more than just a clone of Shadow, you’re his son,” Rouge said comfortingly, “You are your own person, and that’s exactly what Shadow wanted for you.”

Dusk smiled softly. “See,” Rouge continued, removing her hand, “You’re so much easier to get a smile from.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dusk asked skeptically.

“Your father is just distant dear; he’s been like that for as long as I’ve known him,”

“Why does everyone think that Dad is such a bad guy?”

“Oh no, sugar!” Rouge exclaimed, “I don’t think your dad is a bad guy at all. He’s stubborn and difficult, but by no means a bad guy. He's much more compassionate than what most people would expect. I probably know that better than anyone, besides you.”

Dusk looked at Rouge with surprise; he never heard Rouge talk about Shadow like that before.

“Dad has never encouraged me to distance myself from anyone,” Dusk replies.

“Oh, I know sugar, he wants you to make your own decisions about how to live your life,” Rouge explained, “I’m just really surprised just how wonderful of a father Shadow turned out to be.”

Dusk’s soft smile returned again; he's heard many people over the years question Shadow’s ability to parent and was glad to listen to a compliment from someone like Rouge about the subject. Dusk has seen the best of Shadow since the moment he agreed to raise him, but the fact that Shadow is distant around others hasn’t escaped Dusk’s notice. Dusk has arguably seen the ‘real’ Shadow as he was growing up under his care. Shadow’s real compassionate and protective nature was never hidden from Dusk.

“I know he can push other people away sometimes,” Dusk admitted, “But I also know he cares about us a lot.”

“It’s just hard for him to get close to others ever since he lost someone so important to him in the past,”

“Dad lost someone important to him?” Dusk questioned.

“Huh!?!” Rouge exclaimed, “He hasn’t told you?”

“Told me what?”

“I shouldn’t say anymore,” Rouge replied nervously, “That’s a rather touchy subject for your father, and he should talk to you about it when he’s ready.”

“Okay…”

“I’m sorry sugar, I never imaged he didn’t tell you about that, but trust me, just let him talk to you about it on his terms.”

“I understand,”

“Dusk…” Rouge said sweetly.

“Yes, Ma’am?” Dusk replied look up at Rouge.

“I…I’m proud of you,”

Dusk was speechless, Rouge rarely ever said anything like that to him, “Because of Team Storm?”

“Well, yes….”

_BEEP BEEP BEEP_

The alarm on Dusk’s communicator alerted him that the program was finished running back on his computer. It had cut Rouge off before she could finish her sentence.

“The algorithm is finished running,” Dusk explained, “It was nice spending time with you today Miss Rouge, I hope we can do it again sometime.” Dusk ran off at full speed back to Headquarters.

“Dusk, wait!” Rouge called, but it was too late, Dusk was out of earshot. “The one time today he decides to be like his father; work first.” Rouge sighed sadly, “This is going to be harder than I thought.”


	10. Blocking High

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Storm uncover clues leading to a mysterious shrine, but what secrets does this ancient site hold?

_ _

_“Snowflakes are frail but if enough of them stick together, they can stop traffic,” -unknown_

Day 213, Year 3255

The twins finally returned to GUN Headquarters to resume their mission of deciphering the mysterious book that Lightning recovered. The program Dusk and Thunder created in an attempt to make progress was detailed and precise, but unfortunately failed to yield any results. The team was frustrated, but not deterred. Besides the algorithm to decipher the book, there was one other thing that Dusk had been working on during the twins’ absence. During his own solo mission, Dusk had retrieved an encrypted file that supposedly held information about the book. He managed to unencrypt the information and while it didn’t hold all the answers the team was seeking, it held enough to point them in the right direction.

“According to Eggman’s files, he seems to have stumbled across an ancient shrine that predates the one the Echidnas currently occupy,” Dusk began, pulling up documents and pictures on his computer. “The file also held these pictures, showing only seven pedestals.”

“So, there was no Master Emerald yet?” Thunder asked.

“Apparently not,” Dusk replied. “Besides that, there are notes here that express Dr. Eggman was unsure this was even an Echidna site, to begin with. He has theorized that Echidnas may have taken the emeralds by force and moved them to the Angel Island site, attempting to control them with the Master Emerald.”

“Why would they need to use the Master Emerald to control them, I thought it was only used to neutralize the Chaos Emeralds?” Lightning asked.

“Eggman wasn’t able to decipher the text of this language either, but the site did have some hieroglyphs,” Dusk answered, pulling up a picture of some of the hieroglyphs. The pictures depicted seven individuals each holding one heart-shaped item above each of their heads.

“Okay Dusk, I give up,” Thunder spoke, “What are we supposed to be looking at?”

“If Eggman’s theory is correct, then we are looking at the true form of the Chaos Emeralds,”

“True form?” Lightning questioned.

“It’s possible that emeralds in this form may have actually chosen who would wield them,”

“So, they wouldn’t have needed a Master Emerald because there would have been a sort of checks-and-balance system through the individual people; they would all have to agree,” Thunder speculated.

“It’s very likely,” Dusk responded.

“So then, if the Echidnas did take the emeralds by force and try to use them, maybe it caused them to change form,” Lightning added.

“That’s right on par with Eggman’s theory,” Dusk replied.

“Did this event happen too long before the Nocturnus Clan was trapped in the Twilight Cage for Shade to help us?” Lightning added.

“The data I have doesn’t include any tests results to confirm that for sure,”

“Then, maybe we should find this place and check it out for ourselves,” Thunder suggested.

“We’ll have to get Dad to approve it,” Dusk agreed. He printed the file and retrieved the papers from the printer, “I’ll take these to him and ask, but in the meantime, look at the pictures and see if you can pinpoint the location, Thunder.”

“No problem,”

 

After gaining approval from Shadow to look for the ancient shrine’s location, Team Storm headed out to several of the locations Thunder had narrowed the possibilities down to include. They didn’t need to spend too much time in each location, since Thunder could use his Chaos Sound abilities to quickly survey the area and determine if they were in the right place. Eventually, the team found the shrine and approached carefully.

“It’s well hidden, but it’s down there,” Thunder insisted, looking over a canyon area with his teammates.

“Go in carefully Thunder,” Lightning instructed, “map out any traps that may be in the area.”

“No problem,” Thunder replied with confidence. He slid down the side of the canyon wall, once at the bottom Thunder began to send out sound waves. The shrine was hidden carefully behind the opposite wall and came clearly into his view with Thunder’s abilities.

There was nothing between Thunder and the opposite wall, so he ran quickly to the other side. He stopped just feet from the wall, being cautious of possible traps. Thunder began to send out more soundwaves and draw a detailed map in his travel sketchbook. When he was finished, he returned to his team on the other side. They had followed Thunder down the side of the first wall but did not follow him across the canyon to the other wall.

“Good call, Lightning,” Thunder commented, “Eggman left several traps.”

“I’ll take care of them,” Dusk insisted. Thunder tore the page from his sketchbook that he drew the map on, handing it to Dusk. Each trap had been marked with an X on the sketch.

“Signal us where you’ve deactivated them all,” Lightning said solemnly, “and be careful.”

“I will,” Dusk ran quickly to the other side of the canyon. He approached cautiously and sought out each trap carefully, as to not accidently activate them. Once he had deactivated all the nearby traps, he signaled the rest of the team with a whistle.

Thunder and Lightning quickly joined Dusk and began to look around the shrine for clues.

“Is there something we can test to see how old this place is?” Thunder asked.

“We would need something like a shard of pottery or something handmade,” Dusk replied, “It won’t do us any good to test the stones, they could be much older than the people who used them.”

“There isn’t much here besides the hieroglyphs that we’ve already seen,” Lightning stated.

“If there was nothing here then Eggman wouldn’t have left traps,” Thunder returned.

“Well, Eggman isn’t always in his right mind these days,” Dusk added.

“I suppose that’s true,” Thunder agreed, “He’s always calling us by our dads’ names and most of the time he doesn’t even know who Lightning is unless she gets mad.”

“Then he calls me by mom’s name and asks how my fur turned white,” Lightning finished.

“Regardless, nothing good can come from his lapses in memory,” Dusk stated.

“That’s not true,” Lightning replied, looking away from the hieroglyphs to glance briefly at Dusk, “We got you after all.”

Dusk was taken slightly aback by her statement, but it still managed to make him feel appreciated. Lightning wasn’t looking at him anymore, leaving his light blush and small smile unnoticed, but he was glad she didn’t see his reaction. It wasn’t like Lightning had never said anything like that to him before, in fact, she did it often. From the time they were children, Lightning was always making small statements like that to assure Dusk that he mattered as a person; his own person.

In childhood, these statements still made him blush, but in an ‘I’m glad you think about me like that’ way. Lately, the feeling had somewhat changed, but Dusk was unsure why. The statements didn’t suddenly start making him feel bad, actually, he still felt the same, but different. There seemed to be a stronger emotional reaction to them than before. Dusk assumed that in growing more mature, the true validity of the statements had become more apparent to him.

“AHH HA!” Thunder yelled, “Pottery shard! Thank you, Chaos Sound powers.”

“Good job, Thunder,” Lightning complimented. She had turned her attention to the pedestals, noticing a strange symbol on the abacus of each. The middle pedestal was the tallest, being at Lightning’s eye-level, with the other six slightly descending symmetrically on each side. She carefully wiped away the dust to reveal the symbol more clearly, it appeared to be similar to the style of the unknown language. Lightning used her wrist communicator to take a picture of the symbol, repeating this process for the other six pedestals.

“What did you find, Lightning?” Dusk asked.

“Each of these pedestals is marked with a different symbol, they may be important,” Lightning replied.

“If we can find a way to translate the text,”

“Well, I’ll err on the side of hopefulness anyway,” Lightning returned.

“You always do,”

“Uh-oh!” Thunder called, “I hear an airship, you guys.”

“It might be Eggman,” Dusk stated.

“It’s approaching from the northwest,” Thunder added.

“I’ll go check it out,” Dusk insisted, “You two stay here, for now, I’ll contact you if I need you.”

Dusk ran quickly out of the canyon and circled around to approach the airship from behind. Once the ship came into view, Dusk had to quickly find a way to get onboard. He lifted up his wrist communicator and turned it on, “I need a storm.”

“You got it,” Lightning answered. Thunder and Lightning ran out of the canyon to get higher off the ground. They ran to opposite ends, facing each other in a ready-to-run position.

“Ready?” Thunder asked.

“Ready!” Lightning replied.

The twins ran fully speed at one another, curling into a ball once they gained momentum. Lightning naturally began to build electricity when rolled into a ball, likewise a small forcefield built around Thunder from his Chaos powers. When the two collided, Lightning’s electricity was forced upwards, into the sky which charged the clouds and caused a thunderstorm.

The airship was too close to the storm by this point to turn around and instead made an emergency landing. Dusk took this opportunity to sneak on board, finding many confused robots trying to assess the situation.  

“Not good!” one robot yelled, “Not good! We are supposed to scan data for the boss!”

“It’s just a storm,” another one spoke, “Maybe we can wait it out.”

“Not good,” the first robot repeated, “we are to scan the shrine, destroy it and return to base before sundown! We will be late and in so much trouble! He will scrap us for sure!”

“I think you’re being overdramatic,” The second robot commented.

Dusk’s eyes grew wide with shock, Eggman had intentions of destroying the shrine, but why now? Dusk didn’t have time to theorize the reason to Eggman’s plan, he needed to act quickly. His logo of a red, crescent moon was visible on his wrist communicator, by holding on the logo for three seconds, it changed to the Team Storm logo; calling on his teammates without speaking to them.

Within a few minutes, Thunder and Lightning arrive and the robots have moved on to another location.

“Our storm won’t last much longer in this environment,” Lightning whispered.

“Good,” Dusk replied, “We need them to start moving again.”

“Why?” Thunder asked.

“They were sent to scan and destroy the shrine, we need to stop them,” Dusk answered. “I can reprogram the ship’s GPS to make them think they’re in the wrong location, but I need Lightning to short-circuit the computer temporarily. When the system reboots I can make it look like a diagnostic had run and discovered an error in the GPS. Thunder, I need you to be a look-out for me while I reprogram the computer.”

The twins nodded in agreement. Thunder pulled his sketchbook back out and made a sketch of the airship’s layout,

“Okay Lightning, you need to go to the maintenance room in order to cause a short-circuit.” Thunder marked the room with an X and handed the paper to Lightning, “Be careful Sis.”

Lightning nodded and heading towards the direction of the maintenance room. Thunder followed behind Dusk as they made their way to the computer room. If Thunder’s solo mission proved anything it was that stealth was not his strong suit. So, while Dusk relied on Thunder to see where enemies were, Thunder relied on Dusk to lead the way efficiently. When they finally made it to the computer room, Thunder was able to use his soundwaves to keep a lookout while Dusk focused on reprograming the computer.

“Work fast,” Thunder stated, “They’re on their way to start the ship, the storm is gone.”

“Getting off will be easier than getting on,” Dusk replied.

“Easy for you to say,” Thunder returned.

Dusk didn’t reply, he was fixated on the computer, and quickly typing at the keyboard. Dusk was almost finished reprograming the GPS system. “Robots are going to make rounds this way soon, Dusk,” Thunder spoke.

“I’m almost finished,” Dusk assured. He typed in the last of the code and set the program to run on reboot. Dusk then quickly turned his communicator on, “Now, Lightning!”

Lightning took off one of her gloves and touched the electrical box. The lights on the airship flickered a few brief times before the lights stayed on again. Dusk and Thunder ran quickly back to meet up with Lightning. She had exited the maintenance room and met with the boys close to where they had begun.

“What now Dusk?” Thunder questioned, “The ship is in the air already.”

“You guys trust me, don’t you?” Dusk asked, a sly look coming over his face.

“UGH!” Thunder groaned.

The team found an escape hatch and opened it, finding themselves over the canyon. The shipped leaned slightly, which they could all feel.

“They’re changing course,” Lightning stated, “Dusk’s plan must have worked.”

“Hold on!” Dusk exclaimed, wrapping an arm around each of his team members to hold onto them. They jumped out of the airship together, as they descended, they came close to the canyon wall. Dusk activated his hover shoes, using the reverse function to stick to the side of the wall. He skidded down the wall a long distance before he came to a complete stop. The team was just inches away from the bottom of the canyon, and they all breathed a sigh of relief before Dusk gently let go of them.

"Oh, it's a good thing you're super strong," Lightning sighed.

“Dusk, if I had not grown up training with you all these years, there would have been no way I would have done that!” Thunder yelled, having been somewhat frightened by the ordeal.

“What’s wrong Thunder, afraid of heights?” Dusk snickered.

“NO!” Thunder denied, “just…falling.”

“Noted,”

“We need to get a preservation team out here,” Lightning suggested.

“What if Eggman’s tin cans come back?” Thunder asked.

“The program I wrote will delete any information pertaining to the shrine in the background,” Dusk replied, “They won’t be back too quickly.”

“Then let’s take what we have back to headquarters and see if we can get any closer to unraveling this mystery,” Lightning insisted.  


	11. Return Flow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team makes one last effort to decipher the book? Can they find the answers they've been looking for?

__

_“When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm is all about.” -Unknown_

Day 214, Year 3255

Team Storm returned to GUN Headquarters to submit their finding to Shadow and have tests run on the pottery shard Thunder recovered. A preservation team was sent to the shrine’s location to safeguard the site from any further attempts to destroy it. With little else to be done at the moment, the twins returned home for the night.

The next morning, the team regrouped in one of the meeting rooms to discuss the test results. The pottery shard was far older than the Echidnas who were trapped in the Twilight Cage; Shade would not be able to help give the team any clues. Dusk had taken the time to put pictures of the shrine on a dry erase board as a visual aid. Together, the three hedgehogs tried brainstorming ideas of how to proceed. Perhaps if they could find mentions of the shrine from other cultures, that could give them a start.

Thunder left the meeting room to go look at older maps, hoping this could help them pinpoint which cultures to look at first. Meanwhile, Dusk helped Lightning gather books in any language she could read that might also help the group. The two collected a fairly large number of reading materials and brought them back to the meeting room, arranging the books on the table by language.

“It feels like every time we manage to get a little closer to figuring this out, we hit another roadblock,” Lightning commented.

“I know, but we’ll figure something out eventually,” Dusk replied. “If Eggman can figure it out, then we can too.”

Lightning slightly shifted her head to the left and her eye-contact to the floor. Dusk had seen her do this many times before, “What are you thinking?”

“I’m not even sure it’s Eggman anymore,” Lightning admitted.

“What?” Dusk laughed, “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“It’s just…,” Lightning paused and then giggled, feeling uncomfortable, “Never mind, it’s a silly thought.”

Dusk once again was able to pick up on Lightning’s subtle mannerisms and realized he had caused her to feel somewhat embarrassed. It wasn’t Dusk’s intention to upset her and it made him feel deeply guilty.

“I’m sorry,” Dusk said sincerely, “I didn’t mean to laugh.”

“No, it’s okay,” Lightning insisted, “don’t worry about it, it was silly anyway.” She sat down at one of the tables close to the board and began reading. Dusk began to feel a little embarrassed about the situation too and looked for a reason to leave the room for a moment,

“You want something to drink?”

“Sure,” Lightning smiled.

Dusk left the room and briefly stopped outside the door, where Lightning could not see him. He put his hand over his face and sighed, ‘What’s gotten into me lately?’ he asked himself. Lightning was always Dusk’s best friend and a moment like this had never happened before. The two know each other so well that sometimes they just know what the other is thinking. Something was different now, but Dusk couldn’t put his finger on what it was exactly.

He wasn’t even really mean to Lightning, but for some reason felt incredible guilt when she wouldn’t finish her thought. Even when Lightning is just thinking out loud, she never cared if Dusk heard her say something crazy. It was just two words, ‘never mind.’ Lightning rarely ever says those words and when she did it was usually out of frustration or sadness. Her tone implied sadness and Dusk had a hard time grappling with the idea that he had hurt Lightning’s feelings. Even more, he was having a hard time understand why this was affecting him so much.

Dusk resolved to just ignore it for now and focus on trying to find answers about the book. He didn’t have time to preoccupy himself with emotions over something so trivial. After all, it wasn’t like he had made Lightning cry, which would have been different. It was just a small, awkward moment and not really something to dwell upon.

Meanwhile, Lightning also hid her face in her hands, lamenting over how she embarrassed herself. ‘Why did I say that?’ Lightning asked herself, ‘I feel like such an idiot, my job isn’t to indulge in conspiracy theories.’ She signed heavily, removing her hand to grab the book closest to her and began to read.

Dusk rejoined Lightning in the meeting room a short time later, helping sort through the books and other materials as Lightning finished with them. Dusk usually hated not having much work to do on his own, but technology was where a majority of his skills lied. He had done a lot of the work when the group tried the computer program angle to decipher the book, so Dusk didn’t actually feel like he had not made any contribution. However, being something of a workaholic, Dusk did actively look for something to keep him busy while Thunder and Lightning put their own skills to use.

The situation from earlier seemed to have been forgotten and neither he or Lightning mentioned it afterward. Eventually, Thunder also rejoined the team to relay that he was unable to find anything substantial from studying the older maps of the area.  

“Well, what do we do now?” Thunder asked.

“Why don’t we go back to the shrine and see if we can find anything else that can give us a clue?” Dusk returned.

“I didn’t sense anything hidden the first time, but maybe a larger scope of the area would be helpful,” Thunder agreed.

“I’m not finished going through these books yet,” Lightning spoke, “Can you two go without me?”

“No problem, sis,” Thunder answered.

“Dusk, before you go, can you bring me a copy of Omega’s scans in case I find something?”

“Of course,” Dusk replied. He left the room with Thunder but returned later by himself with a copy of the book Lightning requested. “You’re not mad at me, are you?”

“What? Of course, not,” Lightning was surprised by the sudden question.

“I was just making sure,” Dusk said softly, almost like a whisper. Emotions were hard for Dusk to deal with on occasion, but he was most comfortable expressing them around Lightning. Dusk turned to leave, walking just a few steps before Lightning called out,

“Hey, no matter what happens, you’ll always be my best friend.”

Dusk stopped for a moment and turned around slightly to look back at Lightning. His only response was a small smile, then he turned again and left the meeting room. Lightning leaned back against her chair and smiled too, pausing briefly before snapping herself back to reality. She set the copy that Dusk had given her to the side and picked the other book she had been reading back up.

Lightning read through the remaining books within a few hours, leaving only one she had not read. She picked the book up from the table and then looked at the clock; it was late in the afternoon and would be getting dark soon. If the boys did not manage to find anything new and the final book Lightning held yielded no results, then there would be nothing left for the team to consider. Lightning looked back down to the book she was holding and placed her hand on the cover, “Please give me something.”

Suddenly, the white chaos emerald teleported in front of Lightning, startling her enough to slightly jump. “What on Mobius?!” Lightning yelled. She realized something was different about the emerald. Normally when a chaos emerald is attracted to Lightning’s magnetic field, it floats to her as if pulled by a magnet and then circles around her as it glows brightly. None was this was happening, the emerald was only hovering.

Lightning set her book to the side and pushed her seat back to stand up. To say these odd occurrences had taken her by surprise would be an understatement. Carefully, Lightning lifted her hand up to touch the emerald, but when she made contact a blinding light emerged from the stone. Once the light faded and Lightning could open her eyes again, she was stunned to find that the emerald had changed shape. No longer in its usual diamond-cut, the emerald was now in the shape of a heart. “What happened?!” Lightning exclaimed.

The emerald began to glow brightly, turning itself into a beam of light and shooting into Lightning’s chest. She felt no pain, in fact, Lightning felt warm and comfortable and she lifted her hand to her chest. In awe of what just happened, Lightning glanced around the room, wondering if she had nodded off and fallen asleep while she was reading. She soon realized that she was not dreaming and her wandering eyes met the dry erase board that Dusk had put pictures from the shrine on earlier.

The picture Lightning had taken yesterday of the seven pedestals caught her attention as she discovers that she could now read the symbols. The symbols themselves had not changed, but Lightning could now understand them and she walked to the board and picked up a marker.

The middle pedestal was the tallest, its symbol read ‘love.’ The pedestal to the left and right were shorter than the middle pedestal, but the same height as one another; the left pedestal read ‘courage,’ and the right read ‘confidence.’ The pedestal to the left of ‘courage’ read ‘loyalty’ and to the pedestal to the right of ‘confidence’ read ‘hope.’ To the left of ‘loyalty’ the pedestal read ‘fortitude,’ and to the right of ‘hope,’ the pedestal read ‘vitality.’

Lightning wrote each of these words down on the board. “If I can read this, then can I…” she quickly put her marker down and reached for the copy of the book Dusk had given her. The front page was only marked ‘copy,’ so Lightning flipped the page to find groups of symbols that she could indeed read.

_The servers are the seven virtues. The virtuous are bestowed their power…Power enriched by the heart. The controller is emotion and unifies the virtuous._

_It is the Emeralds of Virtue who choose the wielder, each particular in their choice. The white emerald, the emerald of love being the most selective and favors the heart which puts others before themselves. The blue emerald, the emerald of courage favors the heart which confronts their fears rather than the heart which is fearless. The red emerald, the emerald of confidence favors the heart which is confident in one’s allies as well as oneself. The green emerald, the emerald of loyalty favors the heart whose loyalties are not blind. The violet emerald, the emerald of hope favors the heart whose faith is unwavering. The yellow emerald, the emerald of fortitude favors the heart which is in balance with the mind and sedulous. The cyan emerald, the emerald of vitality favors the heart which is steadfast and vigorous in their pursuits._

“The Emeralds of Virtue…” Lightning spoke out loud to herself.

Dusk and Thunder returned, finding an awestruck and shaken Lightning standing at the front of the room with a shocked expression on her face.

“What’s wrong Lightning?” Dusk called. Lightning’s expression remained that of shock as she attempted to gather herself in order to answer,

“I can read it,”

“What do you mean you can read it?” Thunder asked.

Suddenly, the heart-shaped emerald emerged from Lightning’s chest in a similar beam of light that it had entered. Upon seeing the strangely shaped emerald, Dusk and Thunder shared in Lightning’s shock. What did all of this mean and how might this change everything the team thought they knew about the Chaos Emeralds?


	12. Pulse Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hunt is on to find the Chaos Emeralds and the Virtues, so Omega gives the team a lead to finding the next emerald.

                                                            

_“If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm.” -Frank Lane_

Day 216 Year 3255

Lightning attempted several times to write a translated version of the book, but to no avail. She could only manage to write in the same language as the original text. Lightning tested to see if she could write something other than what was written in the book with success. This leads the team to believe that the emerald did not want anyone else to be able to read the book. After careful consideration, Team Storm agreed that if the book contained secret information about the emeralds, it was likely safer that way. The information contained in the book could be used to destroy the emeralds if it fell into the wrong hands. Likewise, it was now much more obvious why they were unable to find anything about the language previously; it was used only the emeralds and their chosen wielders.

Now more than ever, the goal of collecting the chaos emeralds had become a top priority. Not only did the team need to find the other emeralds, but also the other “Virtues,” as the book referred to the wielders of the Emeralds of Virtue. According to the book, the Emerald of Love was the pickiest of the emeralds, which is why the emeralds have not reverted to their true forms since the emeralds were corrupted over 4,000 years ago. The events were overviewed in the book.

The Emeralds of Virtue at one time would remain in their heart-shaped forms, appearing to their chosen wielder when the Emerald deemed them ready. The Knuckles Clan and Nocturnus fought for the power of the emeralds and used the Emerald of Chaos to control them. Due to the attempt to force control over the emeralds, they took the shape of the Emerald of Chaos, losing their ability to choose a wielder…to an extent. In the form of the Chaos emeralds, anyone could use them, but only a select few could obtain a super form.

It was somewhat ironic to Lightning that the Emerald of Love would choose her as its wielder. It was true that she had inherited chaos abilities and chaos control from her father, however, Lightning was never able to achieve a super form like her brother or Dusk. Now she was beginning to wonder if maybe, this was the reason why. Perhaps Lightning is meant to return the Chaos Emeralds to their true forms as the Emeralds of Virtue. The book goes on to say that the Emeralds cannot return to their true form until _ALL_ of them are able to choose a new wielder.

Lightning continued reading the copy of the book Dusk had given her. She sat at a meeting table with Dusk, Thunder, Shadow, and Rouge, with Omega standing nearby.

“So, the Emeralds only want these ‘Virtues’ to be able to read the book, huh?” Shadow asked.

“It appears to be the case, Sensei,” Lightning replied.

“Well, I can’t say that is unreasonable,” Shadow admitted.

“Sounds to me like collecting the Chaos Emeralds would be the next course of action,” Rouge added.

“Yes,” Shadow agreed, “What does the book say about locating the Virtues, Lightning?”

“So far, it only says that the Chaos Emeralds must be purified in the presence of their respective Virtue,” Lightning answered, “but it doesn’t say how to tell who is a Virtue.”

“Maybe the paragraph you read to us can give us a clue,” Thunder suggested, “Didn’t it say what kind of people each emerald preferred?”

“Yes, but we would still only be guessing,”

“We can worry about finding the Virtues later,” Shadow instructed, “for now, your mission will be to collect the Chaos Emeralds.”

“Information contained within the files retrieved by Dusk and Rouge suggest that Dr. Eggman may be in the possession of at least one Chaos Emerald,” Omega spoke.

“Thunder retrieved that one,” Shadow stated.

“Negative,” Omega replied, “Data suggest the possibility of a second emerald at a different location.”

“Alright, then brief Team Storm on the location so they can head out as soon as possible,” Shadow returned, “Lightning, you can read the book at your leisure, leave for this mission with Dusk and Thunder.”

“Yes Sir,” Lightning replied.

 

Team Storm arrives at one of Eggman’s facilities, approaching cautiously as to not be detected by guard robots. Thunder when in closer, while Lightning and Dusk stayed in a secure location. Using his Chaos Sound abilities, Thunder mapped out the area and the location of all the guards. He returned to his teammates with a detailed map of the area.

“Eggman must be having a good day or something,” Thunder commented, “This grid leaves almost no room to sneak by any of the guards.”

Lightning focused intensely on the map, trying to think of a strategy, but Thunder was right, there was no way to sneak past the robots this time.

“If Dusk and I distract the robots, can you get to the emerald?”

“You bet,” Thunder replied confidently.  

“We’ll give you five minutes to get into position before we start,”

“I only need two,”

“Don’t get cocky Thunder,” Lightning scolded.

“Fine, five is plenty enough time,” Thunder agreed, leaving the team once again.

“What kind of distraction did you have in mind?” Dusk asked.

“My favorite kind,” Lightning replied, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small metal rod. The rod was thick and barely extended past either end of Lightning’s hand. A spark of electricity ran from Lightning’s hand to each tip of the rod, causing it to thin and expand until it was as tall as Lightning, “A light show.”

“This will be fun,” Dusk smirked, knowing how Lightning gets when she fights. Dusk and Lightning also moved to a different position, hoping their distraction would force the robot guard out of the facility in order to attack them. This would make it easier for Thunder to move throughout the building and find the Chaos Emerald.

“He’s had five minutes,” Lightning stated, “Ready?”

“Let's go,” Dusk jumped out first, with Lightning following behind. An alarm began sounding at the facility and guard robots came flooding out. Dusk rolled into a ball, an orange-colored energy surrounding him as he collided with the front line of robots, causing an explosion. Lightning used her super speed to launch herself off a hill and into the middle of the robots. As she descended from her fall, she pointed her rod downward and charged her electricity. When Lightning hit the ground, a large electrical shield was omitted from the rod, destroying multiple robots in a complete circle. 

“Looks like Lightning and Dusk got their attention,” Thunder commented, moving further into the facility. Many of the guards had left once the alarm began sounding, giving Thunder an opportunity to get through most of the ground floors without resistance. However, some of the upper floors of the facility still had guards, forcing Thunder to use a homing attack to get rid of them. He finally arrived at the middle floor of the building, where the emerald was supposed to be located.  

Once in the room, Thunder noticed that the containment unit was made completely out of metal. He approached the unit and banged on the outside with the back of his fist.

“Wow,” Thunder mused, “Did Eggman remember how I got the last one?”

Thunder wasn’t convinced that his sound powers would be able to damage the metal, as it had been able to break the glass. Thinking that it wouldn’t hurt to try anyway, he tried focusing a small soundwave by flicking the metal with his finger. “ _Ouch_!” Thunder quickly recoiled his hand. The soundwave had done nothing to the metal. “Guess the old man hasn’t completely lost his mind yet.”

Thunder resorted to more physical measures, as he rolled into a ball, using his quills like a buzz saw to cut through the metal. He reached in to retrieve the Chaos Emerald but pulled out what was clearly a fake. “What?!” Thunder exclaimed, throwing the fake emerald onto the floor causing it to shatter. He focused his soundwave abilities again on reexamining the building in clearer detail, desperate to see if there was really a Chaos Emerald here or not. Robots on the top level of the facility came into focus, one of them holding the real Chaos emerald in its hands. “They switched them out!” Thunder realized and he quickly raced up the stairs to the top floor to catch the robots before they got away.

Thunder reached the roof of the building in seconds, intercepting the robots before they could get to an aircraft. “Where do you think you’re going?” Thunder called, the robots turned to see him running up to them and began to panic. Using a homing attack, Thunder quickly disposed of the robots and claimed the real Chaos Emerald. Another alarm began to sound, and Thunder could hear a rapid succession of doors being closed. “Oh no!” He turned around to find that all the doors in the facility had simultaneously shut themselves. “Why didn’t it do that while I was still inside?” Thunder wondered out loud to himself, “Maybe I gave the old man too much credit before.”

With the exit blocked, Thunder knew the only way down was to jump. He walked to the edge of the roof and looked at the long way between him and the ground. Thunder’s heart began to race with fear. Just as he had admitted to Dusk, it wasn’t the height, it was the thought of falling. Thunder always likes feeling in control of his situation and falling from somewhere robs him of that feeling. He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly to calm himself down, “I can do this.”

Thunder backed up from the edge of the roof to give himself a running jump. Once he cleared the edge, he rolled into a ball and formed a shield around him using sound waves; just like when he and Lightning made the thunderstorm. The shield took most of the impact, but Thunder was still forced to unroll when he hit the ground. “ _Oaff_!” Thunder sounded when he landed and ended up lying on his back, “Well, that wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.” He quickly stood back up, holding the Chaos Emerald in his hand and began to run towards Lightning and Dusk, who had finished off the guard robots. As he was running, he noticed that the blue emerald he was holding suddenly began to glow brighter.

“You made it!” Lightning called.

“About time,” Dusk added.

“Sorry, they tricked me,” Thunder responded.

“How did a bunch of tin cans trick you, Thunder?” Dusk asked.

“They tried to switch the emerald with a fake and make off with the real one,”

“ _Hmm_ ,” Lightning sounded, looking at the facility with a serious expression.

“Whatever, we have the emerald now, that’s what matters,” Dusk returned.

“Here, Lightning,” Thunder said holding up the emerald, “You figure out what to do with this thing.”

“It’s glowing brighter than normal,” Lightning stated.

“Yeah, I noticed that too,” Thunder admitted. Lightning reached out to take the blue emerald from her brother when a spark of electricity jumped from her hand to the emerald, causing it to glow even brighter. The group was briefly blinded by the bright flash of blue light, opening their eyes to see the emerald had changed shape. Just as the white emerald had done, the blue emerald was now in the shape of a heart. “How did you do that?!” Thunder asked.

“I don’t know,” Lightning replied, dumbfounded. The blue emerald then turned into a blue light and shot itself into Thunder’s chest; just as the white emerald had done to Lightning. “Thunder, the emerald has chosen you as a Virtue!”

“Seriously?!” Thunder exclaimed, “What was the blue one again?”

“Courage,”

“The book said the emerald of courage prefers a heart that faces its fears,” Dusk recalled.

“Well, I did just jump off the roof of that building, so…”

“You jumped off the roof?!” Thunder and Dusk exclaimed, knowing Thunder’s fear of falling.

“That’s why the emerald was glowing brighter, you fulfilled its requirements,” Lightning realized.

“Well, that answers the question of how to tell who is a Virtue,” Dusk stated. 


	13. Insolation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thunder and Dusk head out to retrieve another Emerald while Lightning is away, but something isn't right about Eggman's behavior and the boys notice.

  

 

_“There are some things you can only learn in a storm,” – Joel Osteen_

Day 223 Year 3255

A week later, another GUN team reported the location of the third Chaos Emerald. The report was passed on to Shadow, who assigned Team Storm to retrieve it from one of Eggman’s bases; making it obvious that Eggman was once again collecting the emeralds for some unknown reason. Dusk waited for his teammates in their usual meeting room, while reading over the report from the original team. It was really no surprise that Eggman was collecting the Chaos Emeralds, however, the efficacy of his progress in obtaining three of them in a short period of time stood out to Dusk. Eggman’s Alzheimer’s usually prevented him from even knowing what year it was, let alone to accomplish a set of goals over the course of weeks. It was possible that he simply programmed the goal into a set of robots, which are carrying out their orders. 

Before Dusk could think too hard on the matter, the meeting room door opened and Thunder entered the room. It was the evening, which was an odd time to ask Thunder and Lightning to return to Headquarters and the displeasure on Thunder’s face was apparent.

“Can we hurry up and get this over with?” Thunder asked.

“Where’s Lightning?”

“Miss Cream called this morning and asked if she would come over to help her with the Chao,” Thunder replied.

“She isn’t back yet?”

“Nope,” Thunder returned, dryly, “You’ll just have to settle for me today.”

“Fine, whatever,” Dusk responded, “This shouldn’t be that hard anyway.”

“Oh, come on Dusk, I know my sister is your best friend and all, but it won’t kill us to go on a few missions without her once in a while.”

“I thought twins didn’t like to be separated,” Dusk tried to deflect from focusing the conversation on himself.

“For a while,” Thunder shrugged, “but sometimes we just want to be alone and do our own thing. Lightning and I are really different, we have different interests and hobbies. Besides, mom says it’s good for us to have our own personal time, especially at our age.”

“Perhaps we’ll talk about this later,” Dusk finished reading the report, closing the file and setting it down on the table. “Let’s just get this emerald and get back.”

“Sounds good to me,”

Thunder and Dusk arrived at another base controlled by Eggman, similar to the first two. Dusk waited for Thunder to finish scouting a sizable distance away. When Thunder returned, he seemed troubled as he handed Dusk his drawing.

“Man, something isn't right,” Thunder commented with concern. “The security is even tighter than before, there are way more guards and I can't see the emerald with my abilities.”

“It's definitely here though,” Dusk replied, “there's no way he could power all of this without one.”

“There is a containment unit that might be where the emerald is being housed, but for the most part we're going to have to improvise,”

“There’s no way to be covert about this, is there?”

“I can’t see a way to do it Dusk,” Thunder assured, “we just have to go in ‘guns blazing,’ as they say.”

“Fine, the direct approach it is then,”

“That’s my favorite approach,” Thunder returned with a tone of mischievous excitement. Dusk only replied with an annoyed expression and a slight eye roll before taking off full speed towards the base. Thunder quickly followed behind Dusk, staying practically on his heels as they destroyed the first wave of robots on the outside of the building. As they forcefully worked their way into the base, the boys found themselves confronted by large groups of bulky robots. Clearly, the only plan Eggman came up with was to try and overwhelm the group with assumingly unmanageable numbers. Unfortunately for him, all members of Team Storm love a challenge so the army of robots before them did not phase Thunder or Dusk; there was not even call for a pause. Shadow had spent eight years training the kids for preciously these types of situations, which they were confident they would be able to handle.

Thunder and Dusk cut through wave after wave of robots, but it seemed like just as many would show up from other areas to replace them. The tactic managed to slow the boys down and keep them from advancing much further than the second floor. Thunder became quickly agitated once he realized the purpose of the robots was merely an attempt to hold them off long enough to get away with the emerald this time. Another wave approached and Thunder growled in frustration,

“Dusk!”

The call was a warning, giving Dusk time to prepare for an attack. Dusk looked to Thunder and nodded to acknowledge he understood. Thunder jumped into the air, rolling into a ball and building energy around himself, just as he done when he created the thunder storm with Lightning. As he came back down to the ground, Dusk jumped to avoid the sound wave created when Thunder landed. Normally, Thunder’s sound waves could not be seen, but this time was different as Dusk witnessed a blue colored wave spread across the room, affecting only the robots.

“What happened?” Dusk asked in awe, as he landed.

“Why didn’t the building shake too?” Thunder added, uncurling from his ball and standing up. Suddenly the Emerald of Courage emerged from Thunder’s chest and circled around him several times before returning. Thunder made the connection immediately, “Emeralds of Virtue are awesome.”

“Let’s get moving, we don’t have much time,”

Thunder followed Dusk up the stairs to a higher floor, their progress being was not being hampered as drastically now. There was a surprising lack of robots compared to the large numbers the boys faced outside and on the bottom two floors, which unnerved Dusk.

“Something’s not right,” Thunder echoed Dusk’s concerns aloud. Their suspicions were confirmed once they reached the roof of the building to find a small aircraft surrounded completely surrounded by robots as four smaller ones loaded a containment unit into the back of the aircraft. The boys knew they would have to act fast if they wanted to get the emerald. “If I make you a path, can you get the emerald?” Thunder asked.

“Even if I make it onto the aircraft, it might take off and you’ll be left alone,”

“I can handle it,” Thunder insisted, “What’s the matter, don’t you trust me?”

Dusk’s expression turned from uncertainty to serious, “I have full confidence in you, Thunder.”

“Good, then get that emerald,” Thunder returned, quickly rolling into a ball, mowing down the robots directly in his path as Dusk followed. Due to moving at high speeds, the robots had difficulty landing and hits on the boys as they moved to the center of the roof.

When they made it to the middle, Dusk barely had time to jump into the back of the aircraft as it prepared to take off. The doors closed behind him and he felt the vehicle begin to lift off. The smaller robots were no match for Dusk, as he made quick work of them and opened the container they were carrying to find the red Chaos Emerald housed inside. More robots appeared to try and secure the emerald, but it was too late. Now that a Chaos Emerald was in Dusk’s possession he could use chaos control.

Using the power of the Chaos Emerald, Dusk rolled into a ball and dropped through the floor of the aircraft. The hole left behind from Dusk’s attack caused the aircraft to lose stability and come crashing back down to the roof, causing an explosion that set the roof on fire. Dusk stood up, unharmed from his fall and looked at the Chaos Emerald as it floated just inches above his hand. He was satisfied, but the mission was not quite over yet.

Thunder was managing the robots well on his own, and neither of them seemed to be too disturbed by the spreading fire.

“I have it, let’s go,” Dusk called. His teammate was surrounded by robots, Thunder did not seem too worried, but he knew he needed to get away. Dusk looked back to the emerald and reached to grasp it in his hand. “Chaos control!” Dusk exclaimed, teleporting to Thunder’s side.

“How about one more explosion before we go?” Thunder asked.

Dusk smirked, knowing Thunder meant their combination move; Chaos Explosion. Dusk nodded, prompting Thunder to use the same technique as earlier to create a sound wave. Dusk did not need to jump out of the way this time, regardless of the Emerald of Virtue’s power. Using Chaos Blast simultaneously to Thunder’s sound wave blast protected Dusk from the explosion that followed. Once the move was successfully executed, Dusk once again used Chaos control to teleport both him and Thunder away from the base just in time to see it begin to collapse.

“That was a close one,” Dusk commented.

“No kidding,”

Suddenly, the red Chaos Emerald began to glow brightly in Dusk’s hand, “Huh?”

“Hey, that’s the same thing my emerald did,” Thunder explained. “Man, too bad Lightning isn’t here to do…umm, whatever it was she did that turned mine into an Emerald of Virtue.”

“See if you can do it,” Dusk suggested.

“Me?!”

“Perhaps it’s not specific to Lightning, maybe it only takes another Emerald of Virtue to trigger the change,”

“Oh, good point,” Thunder replied, reaching out to touch the Chaos Emerald. Sure enough, a small blue spark of electricity jumped from Thunder’s hand to the emerald. Just as Thunder’s had done, the emerald began to glow even brighter as it blinded the boys with a red flash of light. When they opened their eyes, it too had changed into an Emerald of Virtue. The red emerald then turned into a red light and shot into Dusk’s chest just as Thunder and Lightning’s emeralds. “Three down, four to go,” Thunder continued. Dusk didn’t answer, he only stared at the collapsing base as he lost himself in thought. “Dusk?” Thunder called, snapping Dusk back to reality.

“Sorry, I was just wondering why Eggman keeps trying basically the same plan over and over again,”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s usually not like him to repeat ideas, even with the Alzheimer, he normally changes plans drastically from one to the next,” Thunder agreed, “but he has been getting progressively worse over the last few years.”

“If he’s getting worse, then why is he still able to think of a way to prevent you from mapping an infiltration route and keep you from seeing the Emerald properly on top of coming up with something that nearly worked in getting the emerald away from us?”

“Now that you mention it, that is weird,” Thunder admitted, “It’s like he’s trying to improve this particular plan until it works. It’s as if he knows he can’t defeat us, so he’s just attempting to move the Emerald before we take it from him. The containment unit stopped me from being able to see the emerald, but it also slowed down the robots from getting to the aircraft in time. The idea to overwhelm us just enough to get away came very close to success, especially since we were missing Lightning.”

Dusk recalled his conversation with Lightning about her suspicions that Eggman was not masterminding these recent activities. He was beginning to wonder if maybe she was right after all, making him feel bad for having doubted her.

“Lightning confided in me that she didn’t think Eggman was behind this anymore,” Dusk confessed.

“If it’s not Eggman, then who is it?” Thunder asked.

“I don’t know, but we will have to find out,”  


	14. Convergence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Thunder and Dusk were retrieving the red chaos emerald from one of Dr. Eggman's fortresses, Lightning was helping Cream the Rabbit with a group of Chao. What was she up to all day?

                                        

 

_“It is only in sorrow that bad weather masters us; in joy, we face the storm and defy it,” Amelia Barr_

Day 223 Year 3255

It was nearly noon and Thunder was just waking up, yawning as he came into the living room where his sister was already relaxing as she tried reading. Lightning had brought a copy of the book home with her, but she soon learned that she was only able to read certain sections of the book rather than all of it, as she had hoped. It was unclear to her whether it was due to the emerald not wanting her to read it, or if the sections were specifically written so that only certain Virtues could read each section. If it was a matter of keeping information protected, that would make the most sense.

“Thunder, see if you can read any of this?” Lightning insisted, reaching her brother the book.

Thunder yawned again, “Lightning, I just woke up, give me a minute.”

“It’s the middle of the day,”

“Still morning as far as I’m concerned,”

“Ugh, fine,” Lightning huffed as she set the book down.

Thunder sighed, “I’ll look at it in a minute, okay.”

“Thank you, that was all I was asking,”

“I don’t think you should bring work home with you,” Thunder commented.

“It’s important,”

“If you can’t read it all, then you can’t read it all,” Thunder replied, “Staring at it extra hard won’t change that, just chill out sis and relax while you have the opportunity.”

“Maybe you’re right,”

“Maybe?”

“Okay fine, you _are_ right,” Lightning admitted, “happy?”

“Yes,” Thunder chuckled, finding it amusing that he could get Lightning to admit he was right about something.

“Lightning!” Amy called.

“Yeah, mom?”

“Cream wants to know if you can come help her with the Chao for a little while,”

“Sure,” Lightning replied, getting up from the couch.

“Okay, I’ll let her know that you are on your way,”

“See, should have relaxed while you had the chance,” Thunder teased.

“Shut up Thunder, it’s just Chao, it’s not a big deal,”

“Don’t jinx yourself,” Thunder warned.

Lightning didn’t reply, choosing to ignore Thunder and just head out the door. Cream wasn’t too far away, living on her own now, she cared for a large group of Chao along with her companion Chao Cheese and Chocola. Like Cheese, the other Chao were blue and yellow with small wings. Many referred to these as Neutral Chao. Few Chao these days are able to transform into a Hero or Dark Chao, however, it isn’t entirely impossible. No one is quite sure when or how it became more difficult for the Chao to transform, but according to hieroglyphs on Angel Island, it was once very common.

Lighting arrived at Cream’s house, finding her outside with all the Chao. Cream sounded panicked and all the Chao seemed to be upset by something, flying haphazardly around the area.

“What’s going on?” Lightning asked.

“Lightning, thank goodness you’re here,” Cream sighed with relief, “I’m not sure what’s wrong with them.”

When the Chao noticed Lightning’s presence, they suddenly began to swarm around her. The Chao that made it to her first laid on Lightning’s chest and began nuzzling its face against her.

“Is this normal for them?” Lighting asked.

“No, not really,” Cream replied, “at least not with people they aren't used to seeing all the time.”

“Well, they seemed to have calmed down at least,”

“but what has them so worked up in the first place?”

Suddenly, Lightning began to glow around her body with a white light. The Chao that was nuzzling Lightning also began to glow, however, the Chao’s entire body was engulfed in the light. The Chao looked only like a white silhouette, but Cream and Lightning could still see some of the Chao’s features change. Its wings grew bigger and the floating ball above its head turned into a halo shape. When the glow disappeared from both the Chao and Lightning, they could see that the Chao had also changed color. It was now white, with soft blue tips on its head, hands, and feet. The previously small pink wings were now long and yellow. “What happened?” Cream exclaimed, shocked by the Chao’s new appearance.

“I don’t know,” Lighting replied, just as shocked as Cream. Lightning began to glow again, her Emerald emerging from her chest. The Chao excitedly gathered around it, the first Chao to touch it also began to glow and change appearance just as the first Chao had.

“What is that?” Cream asked.

“An Emerald of Virtue,” Lightning responded, “it’s the true form of a Chaos Emerald. Mine is the Emerald of Love. Unlike the Chaos Emeralds, the Emeralds of Virtue choose their owners.”

“Oh, I see,”

The Chao swarmed around the Emerald of Virtue, taking turns touching it. However, not every Chao that touched the emerald transformed into a Hero Chao. The group that did not transform was larger than the group that had, and they were visibly upset. “Not all of them changed,” Cream stated.

“Miss Cream, if you could attribute the word love to any of the Chao, would it be the ones that transformed?”

“I would think of any one of the Chao when it comes to the word love,”

“Okay, well would you attribute maybe courage to any of them over the word love in regards to their personality?”

“Oh, I think I see where you’re going with this,” Cream realized, “Yes, and none of those Chao transformed.”

“They must transform when they come into contact with the appropriate emeralds,”

“It’s okay everyone, it just wasn’t the right emerald for you,” Cream called to the Chao, calming them down. The Hero Chao all approached Lightning and floated around her, tugging at her clothing and pulling at them.

“What?” Lighting asked confused, “Do you want me to follow you?”

“Chao, Chao!” they all called in unison.

“Go on, Lightning,” Cream spoke, “I’m sure it must be important if they are this insistent.”

“Alright,” Lightning replied reluctantly, unsure where the Chao wanted to take her. She followed them for a while, unable to run as fast as she would have liked. Unlike her brother, Lightning had enough patience for this sort of thing, but it was not the slow pace that bothered her, it was not knowing where she was going or how long it would take. Lightning could already practically hear her mother scolding her for being out so late, even though it wasn’t even dark yet. The Chao finally came to a stop at the top of a hill where Angel Island could be seen in the distance.

“Chao, Chao!” they called, pointing to the floating island.

“Angel Island?!” Lightning exclaimed, “I suppose I should have guessed that after all Chao are originally from there. But we normally have to take a plane to Angel Island, and uncle Tails’ hanger is miles away from here.”

“Chao, Chao!” they called again, swarming Lighting, and holding onto her arms and shoulders. She suddenly began to glow with a white light, feeling lighter in weight. The surroundings when white briefly before coming back into focus, revealing a new location.

“Where am I?” Lightning asked, “Is this Angel Island? I don’t recognize this area.”

“Chao, Chao!” the Chao called, leading Lightning into an area overgrown with vines. Two of the Chao moved the vines out of the way, exposing a symbol on the wall, which Lightning was able to read as ‘Virtuous.’ another Chao touched the symbol, causing it to light up. The ground began to shake lightly as the wall opened up to reveal a shrine much like the one Team Storm investigated in the canyon.

“Another shrine? How many of these are there?”

“Seven,” a tiny voice answered. Lightning was taken aback when she realized the voice emanated from the Chao. “It is only at the shrines that we Hero Chao have the ability to telepathically communicate with those who wield the Emeralds of Virtue,” another spoke.

“As you can see Lightning, two of the pedestals at this shrine are aglow with the color of the respective emerald it corresponds with; the Emeralds of Love and Courage.”

Lightning broke from her shock to look more closely at the pedestals. The Chao was right, the pedestals with the symbols for love and courage were glowing.

“It has been a long time since the Emeralds of Virtue have been able to choose a person worthy of wielding them all at the same time. Finding the remaining five Virtues and purifying the Chaos Emeralds will bring about a great era of peace for this planet.”

“It, of course, will not be as simple as that. You and the Virtues will have to battle against forces that wish to bring this world to its knees, possibly even destroy it entirely.”

“How will I know who is a Virtue?” Lightning asked.

“The Emeralds will tell you, just as with Thunder, the Emeralds will glow brightly in the presence of one chosen to wield its power,”

“But why haven’t they done that before? Thunder and I have been around the Chaos Emeralds since we were ten years old,”

“You were not ready yet, but now the time has come for the Virtues to rise again and defend the world from certain ruin,”

“The balance has been skewed for thousands of years due to the actions of the Knuckles and Nocturnus Clans,”

“Their corruption of the Emeralds of Virtue into the Chaos Emeralds using the power of the Master Emerald has left a lasting mark. Should you or any other Virtue lose sight, even temporary, your respective emerald will revert back into a Chaos Emerald until it can be purified again.”

“Should you, for example, lose sight by falling into hatred or overwhelming heartbreak, your emerald will revert back into a Chaos Emerald. One wielding an Emerald of Virtue can assist another in purifying a Chaos Emerald, just as you did Thunder. However, this is not possible once a Virtue has lost sight and the only way it can be purified again is for the Virtue in question to rediscover their convection,”

“I understand,” Lightning replied. Suddenly another pedestal began to glow with a red color.

“The Emeralds of Confidence has been purified!” The Chao called excitedly.

“It has to be Dusk,” Lightning started confidently.

“We have explained all that we are able to, for now,”

“You may return home Lightning, but we will remain here,”

“Please, bring the other Virtues to the Neutral Chao, give them the chance to grow their wings and becomes Hero Chao too,”

“I will,” Lighting agreed.

“You can use your Emerald to teleport home if you’d like,”

“We're sorry we had to drag you on a long trip for us to do it. Our ability to use the emerald is rather limited,”

“It’s alright, your explanations have relieved a lot of stress I’ve had add of late. I greatly appreciate it, thank you,”

“We hope to see you and the other Virtues soon Lightning, with many more Hero Chao in your company,”

“I’ll do my best, convincing those boys to do something is sometimes like pulling teeth,”

Lighting said goodbye to the Chao before using her emerald to teleport home. It was late, the sun was setting and Lightning was nervous to walk through the door and find her mother upset. She persisted though and walked into the house.

“Lightning, your back,” Amy greeted.

“Yeah, sorry it took so long, Mom,”

“Oh, that’s alright, Shadow called your brother in for a mission a while ago too,”

“I bet he wasn’t happy,”

“He didn’t seem too excited to go that late in the evening,” Any responded, “You look tired sweetie, why don’t you relax for a while or turn in early?”

“Thanks, Mom,”

“I’ll make you something to eat if you’re hungry,”

Lighting smiled, grateful her mother was in a good mood. She ended up taking Amy’s offer for something to eat and turning in early. Not long after Lightning went to bed, Thunder returned home, receiving the same offer from Amy as Lighting. Thunder happily accepted the offer for food, after Amy went to the kitchen, Thunder noticed the book was still where Lightning left it earlier,

“Oh shoot! I forgot to see if I could read anything in that book.  I guess I better go ahead and look or Lightning is going to kill me.”

Thunder flipped through the pages, eventually finding a passage be was able to read. It explained how someone with an Emerald of Virtue can assist in purifying the Emerald of another if it was glowing in reaction to its wielder. ‘Well, Dusk figured that one out on his own,’ Thunder though. He flipped through more of the pages, finding another passage he could read.

_Chao are creatures with a special link with the Emerald of Virtue and can sense when the Emerald have chosen a virtuous wielder. They begin their life in a neutral state, ascending to the state of A Hero Chao when coming into contact with an Emerald that corresponds with their strongest trait. Only in the presence of at least one Virtue at the location of one of the seven Shrines of Virtue will they be able to communicate telepathically with all present. The Hero Chao’s likeness to angels is what gave the island its name well before the power of the Master Emerald lifted it into the sky._

_Millennia ago, the Echidna Clans known as The Nocturnus and the Knuckles Clans were one entity. The intelligent upper caste sought world domination and found a way to corrupt the Emeralds of Virtue using the Emerald of Chaos so that no Virtues could be chosen to rise against the clan. Afterwards, they discovered the corrupt emeralds could be used with the power of thought. Infighting soon broke out between the upper caste who wanted to use the Emeralds for conquest and the lower caste who wished to maintain peace. The Clans eventually separated with the peaceful Knuckles Clan hiding the Emeralds away._

_Over the next four thousand years, the Knuckles and Nocturnus rivalry over the emeralds caused the knowledge of the Emeralds of Virtue to be lost to time. They became known as the Chaos Emeralds and the original Emerald of Chaos became known as the Master Emerald.  Once the Nocturnus Clan began to come to power by concurring multiple nations, the new leader of the Knuckles clan began to push back. He no longer upheld the Clan’s ideals of peace and converted the Knuckles Clan into a warmongering tribe._

_In time, the Knuckles Clan became a force to be reckoned with. In retaliation, the technologically advanced Nocturnus Clan began to send robots known as Gizoids into the battlefield. Sensing his impending defeat, the leader of the Knuckles Clan attempted to steal the Chaos Emeralds to win the war between the tribes for world domination. His own daughter stood up to oppose him but was sadly unsuccessful in stopping him from attacking the Shrine of the Master Emerald._

_Enraged, the guardian of the Emeralds, Chaos transformed into Perfect Chaos and attempted to irradiate the Knuckles Clan and the World. The same young Echidna girl rose up again to sacrifice herself to seal Chaos inside the Master Emerald and spare the remaining members of her Clan and the world.  Shortly after, what became known as the Argus Event pulled the Nocturnus Clan into the Twilight Cage. The surviving members of the Knuckles Clan then devoted themselves to be the new guardians of the Master Emerald to prevent another catastrophe of similar proportions from occurring again. Angel Island was then lifted into the sky by the power of the Master Emerald to prevent thieves from reaching the shrine again._

_For the next four thousand years, the planet was in an era of great peace. Sadly, the Knuckles Clan’s numbers began continuously dwindling throughout those years._

 “No wonder Shade didn’t know anything; the Emeralds had not been the Emeralds of Virtue for thousands of years, everyone assumed that they were always like that,” Thunder commented aloud, “I wonder if the Chao Miss Cream was taking care of sensed the Emeralds of Virtue and that’s why she needed Lightning’s help this morning?”

“Ready to eat, Thunder?” Amy called.

“You bet! You’re the best, Mom,” Thunder replied, closing the book and setting it on the table.


	15. Rising Pressure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is preparing for a new mission, but Lightning and Dusk are having confusing feelings about one another. Their parents are prompted to step in and have a heart to heart conversation with their children.

__

_“It takes a real storm in the average person’s life to make him realize how much worrying he has done over squalls,”-_ _Bruce Barton._

Day 224, Year 3255

First thing in the morning, Lightning and Thunder met with Dusk at Headquarters to let him read the book. The section he was able to read described how it is possible for others to use the Emeralds of Virtue. As a general rule, no one who does not embody to a considerable degree the virtue that the emerald represents cannot use its power. The Emeralds can be rather picky about who may wield them in general but are more likely to let another Virtue use them than anyone else. However, even when another Virtue uses an Emerald other than their own, its power is not as great as when used by its chosen Virtue.

After Dusk read his section to the group, Thunder read his section. When he was finished, he looked up to see that Lightning had a troubled expression.

“What’s wrong sis?” Thunder asked.

“If the Emeralds of Virtue were corrupted long before the Argus Event, then who wrote this book?”

“Lightning is right,” Dusk agreed, “The passage says the knowledge of the Emeralds was lost before Tikal sealed Chaos in the Master Emerald, but the book records that event and events shortly after.”

“Could the Emeralds themselves have written the book?” Thunder questioned.

“The Emeralds?” Lightning returned.

“When Dusk and I went to get the red emerald, the Emerald of Courage came out of my chest on its own and floated around when I did one of my sound-wave attacks. It was like it was trying to show me what way I could use it; like it was trying to communicate with me,” Thunder explained.

“It stands to reason that if the Emeralds are capable of choosing who may use them and to what extent at any time, then perhaps they do have minds of their own,” Dusk added.

“If you boys don’t mind, could we compare the symbols with each other? I’m wondering if this book is really in one language or several and that’s why we can only read certain passages,”

 

Inside Headquarters, Rouge stood nervously outside Shadow’s closed office door. He wasn’t expecting her, but she wanted to speak with him. Her heart was pounding and she could feel herself lightly shaking. She really wasn’t sure why, but she started thinking more about her relationship with both Shadow and Dusk. Rouge had come to terms with the fact Shadow wasn’t romantically interested in her long before he began taking care of Dusk. She was still okay with that but recently began wondering if maybe she was taking a little of her frustration out on Dusk unfairly. She never allowed him to call her anything but Miss Rouge until now.

Originally, Rouge just didn’t want people to get the wrong idea. Dusk calling her ‘mom’ might have made some people think she really was his mother; that she and Shadow had a secret relationship. She also didn’t want to explain where Dusk came from constantly. Not that she cared to explain it, but doing so usually would upset Dusk. Rouge cared about Dusk a great deal; he was always the closest thing she had to a son. In a way, she thought he deserved better than her as a mother. She almost thought it certain recently when she had an epiphany; What about how Dusk feels?

Rouge was the only consistent female figure it his life, she was definitely the closest he ever had to a mother. She already attempted to talk to him about it once, and couldn’t muster the nerve before he ran off to check his computer. Now here she was again, at Shadow’s door to ask permission to spend time with Dusk. Rouge could guess that he would likely say it was up to Dusk again, but that’s not why she felt like she had to ask. She was afraid that she was too late and that eventually, she would overstep a boundary and anger Shadow. She wouldn’t even blame him after all Shadow was the one that took care of Dusk the last eight years. There was no way on Mobius you couldn’t call him the boy’s father by any measure or meaning of the word.

Rouge desperately wanted to make up for lost time and gathered the courage to knock on the door.

“Come in,” Shadow answered. Rouge subconsciously held her breath in fear but reached for the doorknob anyway. She opened the door just enough to make herself visible in the doorway,

“Shadow, can I talk to you?”

This wasn’t like Rouge, Shadow could tell she was nervous about something. He was taken off guard by her strange behavior, but he was also concerned.

“Of course,” Shadow replied. He had known Rouge for twenty years and wasn’t sure what it was that would unnerve her this way. She slinked into the room and shut the door behind her, walking up to Shadow’s desk as if she were a child called into the principal’s office.

“It’s about Dusk,” she mumbled.

“What about Dusk?”

“It’s just that…I’d like to start spending more time with him,”

“I already told you that was up to him,”

“I know, but I don’t want to overstep,” Rouge replied.

“His boundaries or mine?” there was a slight sign of frustration in Shadow’s voice that time.

“Either,” Rouge dropped her head, “I’m sorry Shadow.”

The tears streaming down Rouge’s cheeks dissolved Shadow’s growing anger and reminded him of how shaken she seemed when she first entered the room.

“What’s going on with you?” Shadow asked with much more kindness in his voice than Rouge expected.

“I don’t know it’s my age or just that I’m an idiot,” Rouge began, trying to wipe her tears away, “I said that I would help be responsible for him, but then I never even let him call me more than what most children call a teacher. I’m only now figuring out that a teacher might be all he sees me as. I wanted to be more than that to him, but I’m so terrible at being a mother. The poor dear honestly deserves better, but I love him like he’s my own and I need to start acting like he is.”

Rouge paused, seeing the reaction on Shadow’s face change again to frustration.

“After eight years, you finally want to start _acting_ like his mother?”

“I want to be his mother!” Rouge regained her nerve enough to make it clear to Shadow how she felt. His expression turned to shock as he waited for her to continue. “I always wanted to be his mother, but…”

“But what?”

“You and I…aren’t…”

“Why does that matter?” Shadow interrupted.

“Other people…”

“TO HELL WITH OTHER PEOPLE!” Shadow yelled, “Dusk is the only one that matters.”

“You’re right,” Rouge replied without hesitation.

Shadow sighed, “I’m sorry Rouge, I understand your point.”

“You have every right to be angry with me,”

“I’m not angry with you,” Shadow assured, he paused for a moment and looked softly at Rouge. This was extremely rare but often followed by Shadow opening up to her a little. “He asked me a million question while he was growing up and I did my best to answer all of them I could. But one question was the hardest question I ever had to answer, ‘is Rouge, my mom?’.”

“Oh, Shadow,” Rouge said sympathetically, “What did you tell him?”

“The best I could do was explain to him that you weren’t his mother like Amy is Thunder and Lightning’s mother. That if you didn’t want to be his mother, that I couldn’t make you.”

Rouge fell back into a chair, the tears quickly returned to her eyes. She covered her face with her hands as she doubled over into her knees and began to sob. “I knew it! I’m too late to make it up to him.”

“Rouge,” Shadow called kindly, “Why now?”

“What?” She asked lifter her head up.

“Why do you want to be his mother now?”

“I just finally realized how stupid I’ve been,” Rouge replied, “I should have just let him call me mom from the start and I should have been that to him all along. At first, I thought maybe it was already too late for me to make up for lost time because he’s a teenager now, but then I thought maybe it was as good a time as any.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, he’s at that age Shadow,” Rouge commented, “He’s going to, you know…”

“Going to what?!”

“Start liking girls soon,”

Shadow expression turned to shock quicker than any other time Rouge had ever witnessed before. It as if Shadow had not really considered that possibility before, but was suddenly reminded of it. “Are you going to be able to give him advice on that subject?” Rouge asked, “I know I’m not very good at parenting, but at least I am a woman and that can be helpful.”

Shadow sighed, sounding almost as if he had been defeated in battle, “Regardless, it is up to Dusk at this point. I would honestly hate to tell you that you couldn’t spend time with him if that was something he wanted. If you want to let him call you his mother, that’s between the two of you. It doesn’t matter to me if he wants to call you mom, he should be able to do so if that would make him happy.”

 

FLASHBACK

Dusk had been under Shadow's care for over a year now, and being the curious type that he is, Dusk began to question his relationship with Rouge. Shadow and Dusk still shared a bed at this point; Shadow was already asleep, but Dusk was wide awake wrestling with his emotions. Dusk was becoming more aware of what a 'mother' is supposed to be, by watching Amelia interact with Lightning and Thunder. Finally, Dusk worked up his courage and turned his head to look at Shadow,

“Dad?”

Shadow woke to the now familiar call of his son's tiny voice,

“What is it Dusk?” Shadow was compassionate in asking Dusk what he wanted, it was unusual for the child to wake him in the middle of the night.

“I was wondering...” Dusk hesitated, but Shadow could sense a sadness in him. Shadow sat up and pulled Dusk into his lap,

“What is it, son? You seem conflicted?”

“Is Rouge my mom?” Dusk asked. Shadow sighed,

“That's difficult to answer.”

“Why?”

“Well, our situation is different,” Shadow answered, “The way it normally works is that a male and a female fall in love with each other and develop a close relationship in which they at one point decide to get married.”

“What's married?” Dusk asks.

“Well, Sonic and Amelia are married, Tails and Vixy are married and Knuckles and Shade are married. Marriage is a vow you take to love someone for the rest of your life and at some point, they decided to expand their families by having children,” Shadow answered, “Not everyone is born the way you and I were, all the other children didn't grow in a genetic chamber, they grew inside their mothers' womb. Our chambers were made to mimic a womb so that we could be born without mothers or fathers.”

“Where is a womb?”

“It's under the female's stomach, inside their bodies,” Shadow answered, “When the baby gets big enough, it comes out on its own with a little help from a doctor like Vixy.”

“How?”

“You're a little too young for grown-up details like that, but I'll tell you when you're older,” Shadow was doing surprisingly well and was starting to feel impressed with himself, but Dusk wasn't done asking questions.

“So, you and Rouge aren't married and I didn't grow in her womb, so that means she isn't my mom,” Dusk said sadly.

“That might not be necessarily the case,” Shadow encouraged, “Sometimes kids’ mothers and fathers die and sometimes married couples can't have babies of their own, so they adopt children.”

“Adopt?” Dusk was suddenly a little cheerier.

“That's when a couple takes a kid without a mother or father of their own and become their mother and father out of choice,” Shadow continued.

“Like you did with me?” Dusk asked.

“Well, yes in a way,” Shadow answered, “It was my choice to be your father, but you also have my DNA just like Thunder has Sonic's, James has Tails' and Crimson has Knuckles' DNA.”

“Can Rouge adopt me even though you aren't married to her?”

“Well, Since Vixy put her name on your birth certificate, Rouge has technically already adopted you,” Shadow remarked, “She just isn't ready for you to call her mom just yet.”

“Why?”

“I don't know the answer to that one, that's Rouge's business and it isn't my place to ask her about it,” Shadow answered, “but, I do know that Rouge loves you and cares about you like a mother would. Our situation is just different, so be patient with her. Rouge has no children of her own, so this is probably still a little scary for her.”

“Why would it be scary?”

“Parents are responsible for the children they raise, whether they have them themselves or adopt them,” Shadow explained, “but both of those situations have planning on part of the parents. You were just kind of dropped into our lives Dusk.”

“Oh,” Dusk said sadly.

“I don't regret choosing to raise you,” Shadow comforted, “As far as I'm concerned, you are my Son and I'm proud to call you that and I'm proud to be your father.”

Dusk hugged Shadow, “Thanks, Dad.”

“It's alright son,” Shadow wrapped his arm around Dusk, “Rouge will probably be the closest thing you have to a mother, so it's okay if you feel that she is, just give her time. You've changed both of our lives significantly.”

“Okay,” Dusk agreed. Shadow laid Dusk back down on the bed and covered him up,

“Now, go back to sleep, you have a training session in the morning with the twins.”

 

Team Storm had spent a while comparing similar words and phrases in their passages with one another. As Lightning predicted, each passage was written in its own language. It appeared that if the emeralds had been the ones writing the book, then they were being particular about who could read it. The group agreed that it made sense that they could only read certain passages after the Emeralds had been purified, the Emeralds seem to be allowing them to read pieces at a time. It was uncertain to them if this was completely intended or not. If the Emeralds had control over who could read which passages and when then it wasn’t necessary to write the book in so many languages. However, if anyone granted the ability to use the Emeralds to even a small extent could read the passages, it would be more reasonable to have several languages.

“Well, at any rate, it seems that we will not be able to read the whole book before finding the other four Emeralds and Virtues,” Dusk commented.

“Since when is anything ever easy?” Thunder asked, “I’d rather not wait around for Eggman or whoever it is to find the Emeralds. Every time we go to a facility they ramp up security, and they almost got away with the red emerald. If it hadn’t been for the Emerald of Courage, Dusk and I wouldn’t have made it in time to get it from the badniks.”

“We could certainly stand to be more proactive in our search for the remaining Emeralds,” Lightning agreed.

“I’m sure Dad won’t mind if we want to go on some self-imposed recon missions to locate the other Emeralds,” Dusk suggested.

“That may be what we will have to do,” Lightning added, “We will also have to send the message along to all our allies to keep an eye out for the Chaos Emeralds.”

“Great, I need an excuse to stretch my legs,” Thunder said excitedly.

“Are you just as excited for the paperwork that will inevitably follow?”

“Don’t ruin the moment Dusk,” Thunder muttered in response. “I’ll go plan a travel route for us, Sensei is more likely to give us the green light if we can prove to be efficient.” Thunder ran off to get maps from the meeting room to figure out the team’s best options for travel.   

“I suppose that leaves us with the mission proposal,” Lightning commented, she began to walk away to find some pencils to begin filling out a proposal form when Dusk suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist.

“Lighting, wait,” he called. Lightning looked at him confused for a moment before looking down at her hand that was in Dusk’s grasp. He quickly released her, feeling that he had made her uncomfortable, which was not his intention. “Listen, I’m sorry about before.”

“Sorry about what?” Lightning asked, still confused.

“You mentioned before that you thought it someone other than Eggman behind these recent schemes. I laughed at you and I’m truly sorry about that,”

“You already apologized to me for that,” Lightning responded compassionately, “You don’t need to say sorry to me again.”

“But I think you were right and if I had listened to you before, we could have already been exploring that possibility more seriously. I made you feel like the idea was silly and I should have known better. You’re always right,”

“No, I’m not always right,” Lightning admitted, “but I appreciate your confidence in me.”

 

Team Storm had their request approved by Shadow, resolving to take the day preparing for traveling and to get a fresh start early in the morning. Thunder and Lightning returned home to get ready for the next morning. It was getting dark outside as Dusk finished preparing his own things. He sat by the window in his room watching the sun set and losing himself in thought. Dusk was once again plagued by the lack of understanding he had for the strange feelings he was experiencing around Lightning recently.

Having not heard Dusk moving around in his room, Shadow came in to check on him. He found Dusk by the window with a troubled expression on his face. It had been awhile since Shadow had seen this, but it was an unmistakable tell-tale sign that something was deeply bothering Dusk.

“Are you alright, son?” Shadow asked.

“Huh?” Dusk had been pulled back to reality by his father’s voice. “well, to be honest Dad, I’m not sure.”

“What’s going on?” Shadow was compassionate with Dusk. Over the years, Shadow had been an excellent judge of when to be a mentor and when to be a father. This was most certainly a time to be a father, as he could tell it was something personal rather than job-related stress.

Dusk signed, exasperated, “It’s Lightning,”

“What about her?” Shadow was confused, Lightning was the last thing he would have expected this to be about. The two have always been close friends and excellent teammates, what could be the problem?

“Well, it really isn’t her exactly,” Dusk replied, “it’s probably more accurate to say it’s me… When I’m around her.”

“The two of you aren’t upset with one another?”

Dusk shook his head no, “Nothing like that.”

“Is it distracting you?”

“I can ignore it if I need to, but ignoring isn’t helping anything,”

Shadow was beginning to put the pieces together, he could tell there wasn’t really anything he needed to get Dusk to admit; he seemed confused.

“Lightning has no idea something is bothering you?”

“No,”

That was a red flag for Shadow, he knew it was unlike Dusk to not confide in Lightning. “It’s like I’m scared of her or something, but I know that’s not the case. She’s my best friend, but lately, I’ve been feeling so strange around her.”

Shadow sighed, it seemed to be exactly what he thought it was. He was hoping to have more time to prepare for this situation, but there was no time to think of something now.

“I have to be honest Son, I think I know what’s going on, but I don’t know how to advise you on this,”

“What?! What do you mean?”

“It’s alright, don’t get upset,” Shadow urged, “I know someone who will. Wait here,”

Within a few minutes, Rouge came into the room, but Shadow did not join her.

“Hey Sugar,” Rouge greeted sweetly, “Shadow says something is bothering you and asked me to come talk to you.”

Dusk was a little surprised to see Rouge but glad that she was the one his Dad was referring to when he said he knew someone who could help. If it had to be anyone else besides Shadow that Dusk needed to talk to about this, he was happy that it was Rouge.

“I’ve been feeling sort of strange around Lightning recently and I don’t really understand why,”

“Fluttering feeling in your stomach, over thinking everything you say to her, over thinking everything she says to you when you think you said something wrong you ask what’s wrong with me, occasionally shaking with nerves, your face sometimes feeling warm,”

Dusk’s eyes grew wide with shock, “That’s scary Miss Rouge, how did you know all of that?”

“Oh sweetie, this happens to practically everyone, you’re just in love,” Rouge replied, “I told your father this would happen sooner or later.”

Dusk was speechless; in love?! With Lightning?! His cheeks flushed pink as the reality set in and his mind raced trying to process the situation and form words.

“Wha-What do I do?”

“Ohh,” Rouge cooed, hugging Dusk tightly, “I wish I had an answer for you Sugar, but it’s really just up to you.” She pulled back from the hug and briefly caressed Dusk’s cheek with her thumb before resting her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “I know this is a difficult emotion to deal with, but there’s no one action I can say you need to do. You can tell her how you feel, or you can keep it to yourself, both are hard.”

“But what if she doesn’t feel the same?” Dusk asked, “we’re friends, we’re teammates, what if telling her ruins everything?”

Rouge sat next to Dusk and reached her arm around his back placing on his opposite shoulder.

“You certainly aren’t the first teenager to ask that question, but it’s something you will have to work out for yourself dear. Sometimes the right moment comes along and you can just feel it in your heart. Sometimes the fear of rejection overwhelms you and you never say anything and end up regretting that. I know this is difficult and sometimes even when it works out it's still difficult. Listen, I’m going to be here for you either way so you will have someone to talk to when you feel lost.”

Dusk felt better hearing Rouge promise to be there to help him. She really felt like a mother to him in this moment and he was beyond grateful for her advice and compassion. She still had her arm around him, so he returned the favor and hugged her lightly. As he leaned his head a little more towards Rouge’s shoulder, she wrapped her other arm around the front of Dusk so that both her hands where on Dusk’s arm and rubbed it in an attempt to comfort him.

“Thank you, Miss Rouge,”

Rouge’s nerves were beginning to overtake her as she tried once again to conjure enough courage to tell him he could call her mom. She almost couldn’t do it, but then the words Shadow said as he asked her to talk to Dusk came to mind; ‘You want to be his mother? Well, now is your chance.’ Rouge smiled softly, tightening her hug a little as she gently rested her head against Dusk’s.

“You know, I think that ‘Mom’ would be much better if you would like to call me that,”

Dusk jerked his head up to look at Rouge but didn’t really break from the hug. There was shock on his face and signs of tears forming in his amber eyes,

“Do you mean that?”

For a moment, Rouge felt like she was looking in the eyes of the tiny 7-year-old who use to ask a million questions and was so curious about everything. She began to tear up too as she lifted her hand to Dusk’s cheek and smiled softly again,

“Yes.”

 Dusk turned the half-hug he still hadn’t broken from, into a full hug,

“I’ve wanted to call you that forever.”

Rouge returned the hug, lifting her hand to the back of Dusk’s head. She heard the shaking in his voice from trying to talk while fighting back tears.

“I know Sugar, I’m so sorry,” Rouge was beginning to lose her own battle against crying, “I should have always let you call me Mom, I was foolish. I hope you can forgive me, I promise I’ll try my best to make it up to you.”

 

The twins had finished preparing their things for their upcoming mission. They would be gone for at least a few days, so naturally, Amelia worried about them packing enough food. Thunder was with his mother in the kitchen as she fussed about what to give him to pack. Despite Thunder’s insistence that they were fine and had packed plenty to eat, Amy continued as if she didn’t hear him. Thunder sighed and continued to try and reason with his mother as Sonic looked for Lightning. He found her sitting in a tree outside, watching the sunset.

“Are you alright Lightning?” Sonic asked. He knew his daughter well, she only ever sat up in that tree when something was bothering her.

“Yeah Dad, I just have a lot on my mind right now,” Lightning answered. The tone of her voice only increased Sonic’s concern.

“Is it your mission, or something else?”

Lightning looked down at Sonic, realizing that her father was not just going to let this go like she was hoping he would.

“Something else,” Lightning relented.

“Then come down here and talk to me about it,”

Lightning jumped down from the branch she had been sitting on and sat with Sonic on the ground. “So, what’s going on that’s got you down in the dumps, huh?” Sonic questioned. Lightning hesitated, not quite sure how to answer the question and lowered her head. “Is it a boy?”

“DADDY!” Lightning exclaimed, hiding her face that had turned red with embarrassment in her hands.

“Oh, I was right,” Sonic replied, “Is it Dusk?”

“I don’t know what to do,” Lightning whined, “He’s my best friends and I ended up falling in love with him.”

“So, you have some of your mother in you after all,” Sonic teased, “Except your mom was a lot more outspoken about her feelings.”

“I don’t think this is the same daddy,”

“I guess you’re right,” Sonic agreed, “and your mom was a few years younger than you when we first met.”

Lightning pulled her knees up to her face, Sonic could tell she was somewhat depressed. “I’m sorry sweetie, this obviously isn’t the time for me to make jokes. How come you haven’t talked to your mom about this yet?”

“Are you kidding me?” Lightning responded, “Do you have any idea what kind of field day Mom would have if she found out I had a crush, let alone a crush on Dusk?”

Sonic looked through the window of the house into the kitchen where he could see Amy moving around the kitchen while Thunder seemed like he was trying to talk to her. Sonic could see the frustration on his son’s face as he apparently gave up on the conversation and just sat at the table, watching her place several things on the table.

“You have a good point,” Sonic admitted, turning back to Lightning and smiling, “She does get a little excited about that kind of thing.”

“What do I do?” Lightning repeated her first question. Sonic wrapped his arm around his daughter,

“I wish I could tell you what to do. I use to be really shy about this kind of thing when I was your age too, so I know how you feel right now. At the end of the day though, you’re the only one who can decide what to do in this situation. It’s tough, I know, but it’s really just a normal part of growing up. As your Dad, I really wish there was some definitive answer I could give you to make this all better and I especially wish you would just stop growing up on me, to begin with.”

Lightning leaned over and hugged Sonic, “Thanks, Dad, I know it’s something I will have to figure out on my own. It’s just that I’m worried because I’ve been kind of awkward around him lately and I think I’m confusing him. Now we’re going a mission with each other that’s going to take a few days at least.”

“You’re going to need to relax Lightning, try not to think about it too much right now and focus on finding the Emeralds. You’ll know when the time is right to talk to him about how you feel, if at all. Remember that he’s still your friend and teammate; someone you can trust regardless,”

Lightning smiled and nodded in agreement.


	16. Altimeter: A Flashback Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where did Lightning's inhibitor rings and rod come from? What was the kids' first mission like? Find out in this flashback chapter taking place 5 years prior to the main story

__

_“The only safe ship in a storm is leadership,” – Faye Wattleton_

 

Day 63, Year 3250

Thunder and Lightning's tenth birthday was only a few days away. Under the guidance of Shadow and the rest of Team Dark, the children's skills have grown remarkably. Thunder, Lightning, and Dusk work well together both as a team and individually. Shadow has been talking about sending the children on their first official team mission soon. However, Amy is still somewhat hesitant to allow the children to go on missions yet, with Rouge sharing her concern at the moment. Shadow seemed to be the least worried about possible danger, but only because he was confident in the kids’ abilities.

The adults were gathered together in Sonic and Amy's kitchen to plan a birthday party. These sorts of occasions are like a breath of fresh air to most of them. Any small opportunity for joy is valued by the adults and children alike. Fighting Eggman can be very draining both physically and mentally, especially now that some of them were getting older. Passing the torch is inevitable and many of them knew that.

 The three young hedgehogs are playing together outside when Lightning suddenly collapses and falls to the ground.

“Are you okay Lightning?” Dusk asks kneeling down to check on her.

“Ugh!” Lightning whined in pain, her body suddenly began to spark wildly. The commotion caused Thunder to take notice,

“What happened?”

“I don't know,” Dusk answered. Lightning curled up into a fetal position as the electricity sparked even more wildly,

“It hurts!” she cried.

“Dad!” Dusk called. Shadow did not answer, so Dusk ran into the house as quickly as he could while Thunder stayed with Lightning, attempting to help her.

“Dad!” Dusk called again, running up to Shadow.

“What is it?” Shadow replied.

“Come quick, something's wrong with Lightning!” Dusk explained. All the adults quickly ran outside to see what was going on. Lightning's electricity had grown to an incredible size and voltage, that you could barely see the silhouette of her tiny body at the center.

“Dad!” Thunder yelled, running to Sonic, “It's too much, it started to hurt me.” Sonic bent down in order to inspect the scuffs left all over Thunder’s arm from attempting to pick his sister up.

“It’s alright Son, you did your best,” Sonic assured.

“What do we do?!” Amy exclaimed. Shadow took off one of his inhibitor rings and ran quickly towards Lightning.

“Shadow!” Rouge called in concern. Shadow’s abnormally high resistance to injury shielded him from the electricity long enough to put his inhibitor ring on Lightning's upper arm. Shadow is slightly shocked by the electricity before it fades away which left with only a few small scuffs. He stood up, holding the child in his arms. Amy ran to him, taking Lightning and hugging her badly scuffed body.

“Thank you, Shadow!” Amy thanked, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Quickly Amelia, I need to have a look at her,” Vixy called. The adults went back inside the house with the children, putting Lightning in her own bed. Vixy looked over the child's wounds carefully,

“I think she'll be okay aside from some soreness when she wakes up. She seems rather exhausted, so she may be out for a couple of days at least.”

Sonic and Amelia breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that it could have been much worse. This was in fact, the very situation they feared that resulted in them coming out of hiding three years ago. It was undeniable to both of them, Shadow had just saved Lightning’s life.

“What now?” Amy asks in a sad tone.

“Leave it to me,” Shadow offers, “In the meantime, keep my inhibitor ring on her to be safe.”

Day 65, Year 3250

The adults are back at Sonic and Amy’s resistance to check on Lightning and for the planned party, she still hasn't woken from her coma and today is the twins' birthday. Shadow enters Lightning’s room with Rouge and Dusk. Dusk climbs up onto the bed,

“Oh, she's still sleeping. This isn’t good at all, is it?” The once curious child who asked a million questions had become much wiser about the world around him. His incredible mental growth and ability to learn rapidly had impressed even the GUN commanders who were formally skeptical about Shadow keeping Dusk. Between Shadow’s parenting and the plethora of books, Lightning had given him to read over the years, Dusk had proven to be remarkably intelligent.

“No son, it’s not,” Shadow answers honestly. Dusk drops his head in sadness with tears in his eyes and hugs Lightning, putting his forehead to her's; scared of losing his friend. Shadow was familiar with this fear and sympathized deeply with Dusk.

“Oh, Dusk,” Rouge comforts, “She'll be okay.”

A tear falls from Dusk's eye, onto Lightning's cheeks, and makes a tiny spark.

“Ugh,” Lightning sounds. Dusk lifts his head to look at her face. Lightning's eyes open,

“Dusk? What happened?”

“Lightning!” Dusk exclaims happily, hugging her again, “Happy birthday!”

“Huh?” Lightning asks confused, “Did I really sleep for two days?”

Shadow pulls Dusk off Lightning and sits on the edge of the bed with Dusk sitting next to him.

“Lightning, your electricity became too much for you to handle on your own,” Shadow explains.

“Oh,” Lightning replies sadly.

“It's alright,” Shadow comforts, “Here, this is for you.” He hands Lightning a white box with a light blue bow. She puts the present on her lap and pulls the bow; untying it. Lightning opens the box and inside are two gold rings.

“Inhibitor rings?” Lightning questioned, pulling them out of the box. She looks at her arm and notices an inhibitor ring is already on her arm. She looks to Shadow and notices that one of his rings is missing. She pulls the ring off her arm and returns it to Shadow,

“Thank you, Sensei.”

Shadow smiles as he puts his inhibitor ring back on. Lightning slips both of her own inhibitor rings up her left arm, placing them where Shadow's ring used to be.

“Oh,” Shadow says surprised, “well, wear them however you like, just don't take them off.” Shadow pats Lightning on the head.

“Okay,” Lightning returns.

“Oh good, she’s awake,” Tails said relieved as he entered the room to check on Lightning. He came into the room and stood in front of the bed, but close enough to be in arm's length of Lightning. “Feeling okay?”

“Just a little sore,” Lightning replied.

“Vixy thought you might be, but it could have been much worse,”

“I know,” Lightning admits, dropping her head in sadness.

“Here, maybe this will be of help to you,” Tails also had a gift for the little hedgehog. He handed her a long, skinny box which was maybe only twelve or so inches. It was wrapped in yellow paper with a purple bow. Lightning unwrapped the present, opening the box to find a short metal rod inside.

“What’s this?” Lightning asked curiously, holding the rod in her hand.

“Give it a little bit of electricity,” Tails instructed. Lightning did as requested and have the instrument a small shock, causing it to expand. The reaction startled Lightning, causing her to drop the rod, which maintained it’s new size.

“What is this?” Shadow reiterated Lightning’s question.

“I was trying to create a metal more resistant to weather such as thunderstorms, and somehow I ended up making a metal that is _reactive_ to electricity,” Tails explained. “I immediately thought of Lightning when I discovered electrical currents can manipulate the metal’s shape. Do you think you could teach her to use it as an aid or maybe even a weapon?”

“I wish you had discovered this sooner, I believe this is exactly what Lightning needs,” Shadow seemed enthusiastic about the possibilities of this new tool. “It appears that I will have to postpone my original plans to send the kids on their first mission until I can get Lightning comfortable with using this rod.”

“To be honest, I think the women are going to be fine with that decision,” Tails assured.

“I can’t say I wasn’t aware of their discomfort. Rouge has already voiced her own concerns quite clearly,”

“I know my wife would probably never let James out of the house if it were up to her,” Tails was joking, but there was some truth to that statement, “I think most women are just naturally protective of children, even if the children aren’t their own. I can understand their worries to some degree, I too wish my son didn’t have to inherit a battle he had no part in starting. However, I also understand that just by being my son in the first place, James has a target on his back and he will have to be able to defend himself.”

“Sonic has expressed similar sentiments to me in the past,” Shadow agreed, teaching the children to fight was a necessity regardless of how much any of them desired otherwise, including himself.

Lightning had finally decided to pick the rod back up, giving it another shock caused it to expand again. She instead tried concentrating her electricity and the center of the rod, causing it to shrink to the original size it was before the first shock she administered.

“Well, at least Lightning is grasping control of the metal’s shape fairly, you may end up only having to focus on weapon techniques,” Tails was seeing promise with this idea more and more, as it had taken him several attempts to figure out how to influence the rod’s shape properly.  

“Leave it like that for now, Lightning,” Shadow instructed, “You may experiment with it more on the training grounds.”

“Okay,”

 

Day 207, Year 3250

Shadow was ready to try sending the children on their first mission again. He had sent the last few months continuing to train them as he adapted Lightning’s regimen to include her rod. Shadow had been rather impressed by how naturally Lightning took a liking to the item as both an aid and a weapon. Amy cited her own natural skill with the Piko-Piko Hammer as a possible reason for her daughter’s aptitude with the rod. Amy was hopeful at least one of her children would adopt the weapon as their own, but at this point, it seemed unlikely that either would use it more than occasionally.

Shadow brought the three young hedgehogs, still under his wing, to a small facility that Eggman had abandoned months ago, but still had a few Badniks patrolling the area. This seemed to be the perfect place to test the children’s growth and gage where they needed improvement. Shadow was not expecting perfection with this mission but he was hoping to see great potential in all his students. Just as Omega suggested, the three of them showed promise in becoming an official GUN team someday. However, Shadow knew all the training in the world would mean nothing if they were not able to apply their skills in a real situation with serious stakes. Rouge and Omega accompanied Shadow to the facility to help him evaluate the kids’ progress. They were to step in only if absolutely necessary. As the members of Team Dark took different positions around the facility, Shadow gave the children their instructions.

“This facility is abandoned, but that doesn’t mean it might not hold something useful. There are still robots patrolling the perimeter, I’d like to see you take out as many as possible with the goal of destroying them all. You should search the building for anything of use, but there is no need to fret in the case it holds nothing. This includes digital information, so I encourage you to check the computers if they are in working order. Understand that normally a mission would have you do something more specific than what I am assigning you now. My goal is to measure your progress and determine where you need improvement so take this mission as serious as possible. Do you all understand what I expect from you today?”

“Yes Sensei!” the children reply in unison.

“Then begin when you are ready. Keep in mind we will only intervene if absolutely necessary, rely only on yourself and your teammates,”

The kids moved to a lower level of the ground in order to get a closer look at the building. They hid from the view of the robots as they planned a course of action.

“How do we know how many are around?” Lightning asked in a whisper.

“I can use my sound powers to see them, they won’t even notice,” Thunder offered. He tapped the ground with his foot, sending a sound wave out that was undetected by the robots. “Oh, I can only see the ones touching the ground, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of those around, especially inside.”

“There are a lot of Buzz-Bombers outside, but I bet they can’t fly too well inside,” Dusk comments.

“So if we can get past the Badniks outside, then the ones inside shouldn’t be a problem,” Thunder adds.

“Thunder can’t see all the ones that are outside though,” Lightning reminds the group.

“But you can attack with your rod at a distance Lightning,” Dusk replied, “You have the best shot at taking out the Bombers.”

“Dusk is best at sneaking and with computers, he can go inside and you and I can take care of the outside Badniks,” Thunder suggested to Lightning.

“But what if Dusk ends up needing help?”

“There aren’t as many of them on the inside, Dusk can handle it,” Thunder protested, “If we get all the Badniks outside, we can go in to help him.”

“Thunder is right Lightning, besides someone will have to be alone, there’s only three of us,” Dusk agreed.

“You’ll be okay?”

“I think so,”

“Well, alright then,”

“If you can, Dusk, sneak around and go in the back. There are fewer Badniks there and I think it’s where the computer is too,” Thunder advised. Dusk nodded in agreement to show he understood.

“What if there are Bombers back there?” Lightning asked.

“If you and Thunder make enough noise, maybe they will come to the front to see what’s going on,” Dusk replied.

“Okay, be careful then,” Lightning relented, “That goes for you too Thunder, don’t get overconfident and end up hurting yourself!”

“You worry too much Lightning,” Thunder returned.

“You don’t worry enough,” Lightning attempting to scold her brother while still whispering.

“Let’s just go already!” Thunder exclaimed, heading towards the Badniks outside of the facility.

“Don’t be so hasty!” Lightning called following after her brother.

Dusk snuck around the back, being careful not to alert the robots that were moving towards the noise the twins were making. He spotted a window on the back wall and approached it, finding it to be higher than Dusk was tall. It would be necessary for him to jump the window seal. This in of itself was not an issue, however, Dusk worried he might be seen by a passing robot. Thunder did say that there was less of them inside, so perhaps the odds of being unseen were in his favor.

Dusk jumped to the window, letting his technologically advanced shoes cling to the wall to assist him. As he peered over the edge of the window, Dusk caught the movement of a Motobug moving down the hall and quickly ducked back down. He could slightly hear the sound of the robot’s wheels as it moved back and forth. Dusk became nervous, wondering if maybe it saw him and if he had just possibly ruined his part of the mission. He was hoping the Badnik would move on and shrug off whatever it saw as nothing. The last thing Dusk wanted was to disappoint his father, even if this was a mission to see where the group needed improvement; he wanted to make Shadow proud of him.

Finally, the robot gave up and moved along down the hallway. Once Dusk could no longer hear anything, he carefully looked through the window again. There was nothing, so he gently opened the window as to not risk alerting the Motobugs to his presence. The lights in the building were either off or flickering. It was still possible that the computers might be on. Dusk moved quickly and quietly down the hall looking for a computer room.

Dusk eventually discovered what he was looking for, but unfortunately, the computer was broken. The screen had been smashed and the control panel sparked occasionally, making it impossible to retrieve anything. Dusk continued to search the building for anything useful, no longer weary of the Motobugs, he destroyed the robots as he came across them. However, Dusk found that the facility was empty of anything but damaged equipment.

Dusk rejoined his teammates outside, they were still battling small groups of robots that made their way towards the commotion. He exited through the front door in time to see Thunder homing attack a group of Crabmeats and Lightning take out a Buzz-Bomber with her rod. He ran to join them, but the team of youngsters was quickly descended upon by more Buzz-Bombers.

“Well, if we aren’t stalling for time anymore, then duck guys!” Lightning called. Thunder and Dusk followed her instructions, knowing what she wanted to do. Lightning gave the rod a shock to make it grow taller than herself and quickly stabbed one end into the ground as a large bolt of lightning escaped the other end. All of the Buzz-Bombers surroundings the kids were shocked simultaneously and destroyed. No more robots followed to engage the children.

“Did you find anything?” Thunder asked, turning his attention to Dusk.

“No, everything inside is broken,”

“Then I wonder why so many Badniks are around,” Lightning questioned. Suddenly, a Chaos emerald appeared out of nowhere, glowing very brightly as it circled Lightning. A spark of electricity jumped from Lightning’s body to the Emerald, becoming the same green color as the jewel.

“Wow, what is that?!” Thunder mused.

“It is a Chaos Emerald,” Shadow answered as he and the other members of Team Dark approached.

“I’ve never seen one glow so brightly before,” Rouge commented, “Do you think it is reacting to Lightning’s chaos electricity?”

“It seems to be the case,” Shadow replied. He reached out and grabbed the Emerald as it made its usual orbit around Lightning. Another spark between Lightning’s body and the Emerald occurred, but Shadow felt nothing from the green colored bolt. As Shadow attempted to pull the Emerald away, he discovered that it would stubbornly not budge. Shadow pulled with all his strength, but the Emerald still never moved so much as an inch.

“What’s going on?” Rouge questioned, “I’ve never seen one do this kind of thing before.”

“Perhaps this is related to Lightning’s electrical field,” Omega suggests.

“Yes, it could be possible the Emerald is both attracted to and trapped within the field,” Shadow agrees.

“Maybe Lightning can just push it out of the field,” Dusk offers.

“I can try,” Lightning agrees. She waits for the Emerald to pass in-front of her again. As it does, she grabs it and pushes it towards Shadow. A tiny green spark jumps from the Emerald to Lightning’s hand and it slightly loses the brightness of its glow. This time, Shadow is able to take the Emerald.

“Interesting,” Shadow states, “We will regroup at headquarters and discuss your progress and whatever updates to your training we feel are necessary.”

Later at GUN Headquarters, the children waited for Team Dark in the briefing room. The veteran team decided to discuss the children’s progress amongst themselves first, so they could cohesively present their thoughts to the younger group. Team Dark entered the room and sat at the meeting table with the kids.

“First, I’d like to inform you that we will be making significant changes to all of your regimens. However, this by no means suggests we are unsatisfied with your progress. Quite the contrary, I am very proud of the way all of you handled yourselves today,” Shadow spoke first.

“Thunder, it was wonderful for you to use your sound abilities to see where robots were stationed around the perimeter,” Rouge commented, “However, we feel that with your talent to draw, perhaps it would be more helpful to your teammates if you could provide them with a map, even a simple one.”

“Lightning was right to suggest that you not become too hasty and overconfident,” Shadow adds, “it has gotten your father into trouble in the past and it will undoubtedly get you into trouble as well.”

Thunder nodded in response, “Can I carry a little sketchbook with me? Like a pocket-sized one?”

“Yes, that would be acceptable,” Shadow answers.

“Lightning, it’s understandable that you worry about the well being of your teammates. While it is commendable, you must learn to trust your teammates' judgments of their own skill without presenting so many ‘what if’ scenarios to them. This may be necessary at times, but you must be careful not to sacrifice timing, you may be giving missions that require immediate response or precision,” Rouge explains, switching the focus to Lightning.

“Yes Mame,” Lightning responds.

“You have done excellent since training began with your rod, so I plan to put much more focus on its applications from here on out,” Shadow adds, “However, we will still also continue training without your rod as well, there is always the possibility of you being unarmed by an opponent or happenstance.”

Lightning nodded, smiling. She enjoyed using the rod, it made things so much easier.

“Dusk, you seemed the most nervous of your teammates. Was everything okay Sugar?” Rouge asked.

“I just wanted to do a good job,” Dusk replied.

“There’s no need to stress yourself to the point that it distracts you,” Shadow advises, “This was still your first mission, so I can understand your nervousness. Omega has suggested that perhaps with your interest in technology, you might also do well with using tools as Lightning has with her rod. We will experiment with that suggestion and hopefully, your confidence should build once you become more accustomed to missions.”

“Overall, we are satisfied with the progress all three of you have displayed and seen a lot of potential in you as a team,” Rouge commented.

“Specifically, we see great potential in the three of you becoming an efficient special operative team in the future. We will be working towards that goal with you until we feel you are ready to be registered as official GUN agents. How fast that goal is reached will depend on the three of you, but I will be submitting a projected eight-year plan to the Commander. I suspect they would be willing to wait at least until you are young adults if not slightly sooner.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry everyone, it took me a little while to notice that this Chapter posted twice. The first time I tried to post it I lost connection and I thought it didn't post and so I reposted it. The next chapter should be coming out soon, my cousin is co-writing with a new character being introduced. See you soon!


	17. Dog Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Team hits a roadblock on their way to Angel Island and meet someone new.

__

_“Times of great calamity and confusion have been productive for the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace. The brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from the darkest storm,” – Charles Caleb Colton_

Day 225, Year 3255

It was early in the morning, and the twins were getting their backpacks as they prepared to leave for GUN Headquarters. Amy and Sonic met them at the door to tell them goodbye before they headed out. Sonic hugged the kids and told them he loved them. The twins returned the gesture and told their father they loved him too. Amy was more anxious than Sonic and teared up as she tightly hugged the twins.

“You be careful, kids!” Amy cried, “Mommy loves you!”

“Mom, too tight!” Lightning gasped for air.

“We’ve done this hundreds of times. Mom, chill out,” Thunder added.

Amy released the twins from her choking embrace and apologized,

“I know, you two are just like your father.  You have everything don’t you?”

“Yes Ma’am,” Lightning replied.

“Everything?” Amy glared suspiciously at Thunder.

“Yes Mom, I promise I have _everything_ ,”

“Well, okay,” Amy relented, “be careful and please try to check in with us once in a while.”

“We’ll do our best Mom,” Lightning answered.

“Mission or not, you’re going on an adventure,” Sonic stated, “Try to have fun while you’re working.”

The twins waved goodbye to their parents as they headed for GUN Headquarters. Dusk and Team Dark were waiting for them in the briefing room. Shadow quickly finished writing on some paperwork and closed the paper folder it was in before standing to address Team Storm.

“Your mission is to retrieve the remaining four Chaos Emeralds,” Shadow began, “If you manage to find the Virtues qualified to wield them in their purified form, that would be excellent but not necessarily your goal. Finding the emeralds before Eggman is more of a priority, finding the Virtues can wait. I’ll be monitoring your routes using the tracking devices in your communicators in case there is an emergency. If you hit any roadblock or must address Eggman’s robots unexpectedly, report to one of the members of Team Dark. I will also expect a progress report each night before you take rest, even if all you have to report is that you have arrived somewhere without incident.”

“In other words, make sure you check in with one of us every night,” Rouge reiterated.

“I’m sure your mother wants you to check in with her as well,” Shadow addressed the twins, “That will be fine, but do not reveal any sensitive mission details while speaking with her or your father. Eggman tends to have eyes and ears everywhere, so err on the side of caution.”

“Yes, sir!” Team Storm replied in unison.

“You may leave, good luck to you all,” Shadow finished giving his orders. Team Storm left Headquarters immediately. Their first stop was intended to be Angel Island, as the boys had not yet visited the second shrine where the hero Chao had taken her.

Once the kids were gone, Rouge looked suspiciously at Shadow; it didn’t take him long to notice as he had grown used to her gaze.

“What?” Shadow asked.

“Are you worried about them?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“Wanting them to check in every night has a lot more to do with you wanting to make sure they are okay than your report,”

Shadow signed, “Of course I worry about them Rouge. I don’t want them to think that I don’t have confidence in them, because that’s not the case, I’m just…”

“A parent,” Rouge finished.

Shadow glared at her, but he was more annoyed than angry, the exchange gave him a sense of déjà vu, “What is with you lately?”

“Trying to be ‘mom’ now, remember,” Rouge smiled slyly.

“Dusk’s mother, not mine,” Shadow replied.

“It’s not going to hurt their esteem if you tell them you worry about them. I thought you had noticed that the twins want you to be proud of them, that’s why I nudged you before. You may not be Thunder and Lightning’s parent, but you are still an important figure in their life. The twins want to make you proud of them just as much as Dusk does. So do try to acknowledge them when they do good work,”

“Where is this coming from?”

“I saw Thunder working on their travel map for the proposal,”

“And?”

“It was impressive, even for Thunder,” Rouge commented, “and what did you say to him about it?”

“I told him it looked fine,” Shadow replied defensively.

“Didn’t you tell the boy to stop relying on Lightning and Dusk so much to think through situations?”

“I did,”

“Then why did you not acknowledge him for doing as you told him?”

“What do you mean? Thunder always makes the team a map,”

“With alternate and escape routes just in case, they run into trouble along the predicted path?”

“Did Lightning not make him do that?” Shadow asked surprised.

“No,” Rouge shook her head, “He did it all on his own. I was watching the whole time he was working on it. I was quite impressed myself, underneath that attitude is an intelligent young man.”

“That’s not a new revelation to either of us Rouge,” Shadow argued, “You know as well as I do how intelligent Thunder is, but breaking him of defaulting to his father’s cocky attitude has been my greatest challenge with him.”

“Well, you might just be winning that battle Shadow, and if you want total victory, I suggest you consider praising him,”

“I assure you that I would have, had I known,”

“Drawing was always the one skill Thunder is not a show-off about,” Rouge replied, “Perhaps he was hoping you would notice without him having to say anything.”

Apparent signs of frustration appeared on Shadow’s face, “I’ll talk to him.”

“That would be lovely,” Rouge smiled as Shadow walked away.

“Why is Shadow upset? Was self-reliance not his goal with Agent Thunder?”

“Shadow cares about the kid's Omega; he is upset because he thinks he might have made Thunder feel inadequate,”

“Yes, I understand how such emotions might be an issue,” Omega replied, “Shadow plans to remedy this situation?”

“I hope so,”

 

Team Storm moved quickly along the route Thunder had mapped out for them, following him in a V formation. Thunder has an excellent memory and would need to consult with his map the least, which is why the team most often followed his lead while traveling. They were coming up to a well-known canyon in the area. The fastest route would be to go through it on their way to Angel Island.

The team had made it halfway through the canyon when they discovered a massive rock slide blocking the way.

“WOAH! This doesn’t look good!” Thunder exclaimed.

“Something isn’t right,” Lightning commented.

“Lightning is right,” Dusk agreed, “These rocks look like they’ve been stacked purposefully.”

“If someone is blocking the way, then it’s no doubt Eggman’s doing, or whoever it is behind these recent schemes,” Thunder added.

“He either wants to use the area for tactical reasons, or there is a Chaos Emerald nearby,” Lightning added.

“Either way, we’re bashing baddies in our near future,” Thunder replied excitedly.

“First things first, I’ll contact Sensei and let him know what’s going on. Thunder, you should head to the other side and warn anyone traveling through the canyon that the area is dangerous,” Lightning suggested.

“Will do!” Thunder agreed, knowing traveling through the canyon this way would be fun. There was no need to argue with Lightning, primarily since he was aware that she requested him specifically because if there were Badniks in the area, Thunder would be able to detect them.

“Dusk, can you work on clearing the way while I also redirect travelers on this side of the canyon?”

“Certainly, it shouldn’t take me too long assuming I’m not interrupted,”

“You can always call us if Badniks show up to cause trouble. You will have to be careful clearing the way; we wouldn’t want to cause an actual rock slide by mistake,” Lightning replied.

Dusk nodded in agreement, turning his head back around towards the rocks he notices that Thunder is already gone. It doesn’t surprise Dusk much, but he still grimaced in frustration at Thunder’s impatience. 

Thunder enjoyed any opportunity to run and jump in areas such as this freely. As he raced to the other side of the canyon, he detected the presence of Badniks. However, they were far off in the distance, away from the usual travel route through the canyon. They weren’t worth worrying about at the moment. As far as Thunder could tell, they were only patrolling anyway.

Thunder arrived at the other side of the canyon without any issues, and he was beginning to think this would be an easy break before the Team continued to Angel Island. However, it wasn’t long before someone else arrived at the entrance of the canyon. She was a young girl around Thunder’s age; approximately 14 or 15. She had lovely, lilac colored fur and wore a red dress with fishnet-like, black, fingerless gloves and a digital camera hung from around her neck. She was a hedgehog, but her ears were larger than average. Thunder remembered seeing hedgehogs like this before when he visited Spagonia; they were desert hedgehogs, which was why their ears were larger. From the looks of her dress and gloves, it was likely a safe bet this young lady was initially from Spagonia herself.

“Hello miss,” Thunder greeted.

“Yes, hello,” she answered. Her accent cemented that she was indeed Spaingonian.  

“I’m very sorry; you cannot travel through the canyon at the moment,” Thunder informed.

“And why not?” the girl asked, irritation was beginning to infect her voice.

“There is a rock slide blocking the path up ahead,”

“But this is the fastest route to the next town,” she protested.

“I understand miss, but the area is too dangerous for traveling right now,”

“Well, I came all this way, I still want to get some pictures for my album at least,”

“I still don’t recommend going into the area,”

“You don’t hold any authority just because you’re Sonic the Hedgehog’s son,” the girl scolded.

“What?!” Thunder exclaimed, putting his hands up defensively, “No, it’s not like that, I’m…”

“I don’t care,” the girl interrupted, “I’m going to get pictures regardless of what you say. You aren’t the boss of me just because people think you’re a ‘hero,’ you’re just any other person as far as I’m concerned.”

“I’m…” Thunder stammered and blushed lightly; no one ever said anything like that to him before. She had already moved past him and into the canyon. What was he supposed to do now? There was no way he could force her to turn around and leave. Thunder didn’t like having to argue with women, the little bit of shyness he had always kicked in when girls were around. Thunder wrestled internally with what to do, concerned about leaving his post as much as he was with the girl going into the canyon unescorted.

The young hedgehog girl made her way through the canyon, occasionally stopping to take pictures. She lifted her camera to her eye to peer through its viewfinder. She tapped the shutter button to focus the lens and when she was satisfied, snapped a picture. The aperture could be seen closing briefly through the viewfinder. Once it reopened a split second later, a Motobug suddenly appeared from behind the rocks.

“AHH!”

Thunder reacted quickly, having followed the girl into the canyon to make sure she would be okay. A spin-dash attack promptly dispensed with the lone robot.

“Are you okay?” Thunder asked.

“You followed me?!”

“What was I supposed to do? I told you the area is dangerous,”

“You never said anything about Eggman’s robots being here!”

“I didn’t realize any were this close; they were all much farther away when I last checked their position. This guy looks like he got separated from the group, Motobugs are not usually alone,”

The girl started walking back through the canyon path, ignoring Thunder for the most part, “Hey! If you’re going to insist on continuing, then at least let me escort you,” Thunder called.

“No! Leave me alone; I can handle myself,”

Thunder let her be and watched as she walked away from him. ‘I’ve never met such a hard-headed woman before,’ He thought.

The girl kept traveling through the canyon until she came across the rock slide Thunder had warned her about earlier.

“Oh, my,” She mused, “He wasn’t kidding when he said that route is blocked. There’s no way I can get over that.”

“How did you get here?” a male voice called. The girl jumped, startled by the commanding tone of the voice. She turned quickly to see Dusk standing behind her.

“Oh, you’re Shadow the Hedgehog’s son,”

“My name is Dusk,”

“I am Alecia,” [Ah-li-SEE-ah]

“A pleasure,” Dusk spoke more kindly, “Now, may I ask how you got here?”

“I just came along the path,”

“Was there not another agent at the entrance redirecting travelers?”

“A GUN agent?” Alecia questioned, “No, the only other person I saw was Sonic the Hedgehog’s son. He was quite determined not to let me through here.”

“Thunder _is_ a GUN agent,” Dusk explained.

“What?! You aren’t serious,”

“Thunder, Lightning and I are GUN Team Storm. I don’t blame you for not being aware; we were officially commissioned less than a month ago,”

“Oh, now I feel terrible for not listening to him,” Alecia frowned, “I assumed he was acting entitled.”

“I would believe arrogant, but not entitled,” Dusk defended, “Thunder has a soft heart, perhaps too soft at times. It is dangerous for you to be here, yet he let you pass him. Honestly, I’m rather confused about why he would do that; it’s not like him.”

“Oh, I may not have given him much choice,”

“Did you yell at him?”

“I did,” Alecia replied, somewhat ashamed.

Dusk shook his head disapprovingly, “He’s the only person I know that can shrug at the sight of a Super Badnik and shake when a lady raises her voice to him.”

“You aren’t making me feel any better dear,”

“My apologies,” Dusk replied sincerely, “I suppose since you have made it this far, I will take you to the other side of the canyon.”

“Thank you; I am appreciative of your help,”

Dusk took Alecia to the other side of the canyon, where Lightning was redirecting travelers.

“Did Thunder let one slip past him?” Lightning questioned when she saw Dusk escorting Alecia.

“Oh, I am truly sorry for all the trouble I caused. I was more than a little insistent on traveling through the canyon,” Alecia apologized.

“Leave it to Thunder to bend for a lady,” Lightning commented, “It’s alright, at least you are safe. Happy travels miss.”

“I do hope this doesn’t cause any of you to land in hot water with your superior. I give you my word; I will be more cooperative should we meet again,”

“It would be much appreciated, thank you,” Lightning replied.

Later that night, the Team managed to travel only a few hundred miles from the canyon after clearing the path. The team then disposed of the nearby Badniks, with no evidence there was a Chaos Emerald in the area. It was likely that they were searching the area or using it for tactical reasons. The team stopped to rest for the night with Lightning haven stepped away briefly to report to Shadow. Dusk and Thunder tried to settle down to relax in the meantime as Dusk prepared a campfire.

“Thunder, it was more dangerous for you to allow that girl through than to turn her away,” Dusk noted, as he piled wood and kindling together for the fire, “Why did you let her pass you?”

“She was hard-headed, nothing I said convinced her not to go,” Thunder answered, “Even when I saved her from a lone Mototbug, she wouldn’t listen to me.”

“She changed her tune quickly when she found out we are GUN agents,”

“Yeah, I saw that,”

“You followed her?”

“I had to,” Thunder replied defensively, “I didn’t want her to get hurt.”

“Next time you should do a better job of standing your ground,” Dusk suggested, “it will save us from more trouble in the long run.”

“Yeah, I know,” Thunder sighed, “I’m sorry.”

“I know we’re all still getting used to being agents with authority, but we’re not trainees anymore, it’s time to step up,”

Thunder nodded, “Did you catch that girl’s name by the way?”

“You can hear a pin drop up to ten miles away, but you couldn’t hear her introducing herself to me?”

“Eavesdropping is rude,”

“You’re unbelievable,” Dusk replied, exasperated, “Her name is Alecia.”

“Alecia…”

“We aren’t likely to meet her again Thunder,”

“Well, I kind of hope we do,” Thunder blushed, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

“You’re odd,” Dusk comments dryly. He took a steel striker to a piece of flint to spark the campfire.

Lightning returns to the campsite, having finished her report to Shadow,

“Thunder, Sensei said for you to call and talk to him privately for a moment.”

“You told him about me letting Alecia through the canyon?”

“No, I didn’t mention it since she regretted not listening to you. I honestly don’t know why Sensei wants to talk to you,”

Thunder walked a short distance away, enough to where the rest of the team couldn’t hear since Shadow requested to speak privately. Thunder was nervous, wondering what he could have done wrong this time. He has been trying very hard to do better ever since he became an official agent. He reluctantly touched his communicator and called Shadow. He picked up quickly, expecting Thunder’s call,

“Thunder,” Shadow spoke.

“Yes, sir?” Thunder replied nervously.

“Rouge has brought to my attention that the map you submitted in your mission proposal was prepared by you alone,”

Thunder’s nerves calmed and he became confused, “Yes sir, I always draw the maps on my own.”

“When I saw alternate escape routes, I had assumed this had been done on Lightning’s request. Rouge tells me this was not the case. I feel it’s more than necessary to acknowledge you for your initiative. I see that you have been taking steps to better yourself and I’m quite impressed. Keep up the good work Thunder.”

Thunder’s eyes grew slightly wide, completely surprised to have received a compliment from his mentor, “Yes sir!”

Shadow smiled, he hadn’t expected his praise would make such an expression on Thunder.

“Sleep well, good luck on your mission,”

“Thank you, Shadow! Goodnight,”

The communication ended, and Shadow turned his attention to the paperwork he had almost completed before Lightning called. He heard the creak of his door opening and looked to see Rouge standing in the doorway with a smug look on her face.

“Don’t look at me like that!”

“I told you he wanted you to be proud of him,”

“Yes, you were right,” Shadow admitted, “Don’t rub it in.”


End file.
